Zvi Zamir, head of the Mossad during the Yom Kippur War and 1972 Munich Olympics, passed away Tuesday at age 98.
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Zamir, born Zvicka Zarzevsky in Poland in March 1925, immigrated to Israel as a child. He served in the Palmach paramilitary forces in the pre-state era and fought in the Independence War in 1948.
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He went on to serve in various roles in the Israel Defense Forces, rising to the rank of Major General and serving in the role of head of Southern Command. He finished his army career as a defense attaché in the United Kingdom and several Scandinavian countries.
On September 1, 1968, Zamir was appointed head of the Mossad. His term saw increased activity by Palestinian terrorist activities targeting Jews and Israelis abroad. The massacre of 11 members of the Israeli Olympic delegation at the 1972 games at the hands of the Black September terror group marked a turning point and led to increased cooperation between the Mossad and the IDF.
Zamir personally met with the Egyptian agent Ashraf Marwan, known as "The Angel", in London, and sounded the alarm of an impending attack prior to the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War in October 1973. The state commission established to investigate the war after its conclusion praised the Mossad, and Zamir as its head, for its work in collecting and passing on intelligence.
This article was first published by i24NEWS.
