Meir Har-Zion was born in Herzliya in 1934, and was a third generation sabra.
13 Facts About Meir Har-Zion
1.
2.
Meir Har-Zion's mother, Sarah Goldenberg, had been born in Rishon LeZion to a mother who had been born in Jerusalem to a Sephardi-Jewish family originally from Izmir and a father who had been born in Romania and moved to Palestine with his parents as a child.
3.
When Meir Har-Zion was three years old, the family moved to Rishpon, where his two sisters Shoshana and Rachel were born.
4.
When he was 14, his parents divorced, and Meir Har-Zion moved to kibbutz Ein Harod with his father while his mother and sisters moved to kibbutz Beit Alfa.
5.
Meir Har-Zion took part in the unit's first operation at the end of August 1953.
6.
Meir Har-Zion commanded one of three squads sent to ambush any reinforcements coming from Ni'lin, Budrus, and Shuqba.
7.
Three Legionnaires were killed as well as a farmer, Rafi'a Abdel Aziz Omar, who was stabbed to death by Meir Har-Zion to prevent him raising the alarm.
8.
When he heard of her death, Meir Har-Zion was inconsolable and vowed revenge.
9.
Meir Har-Zion's life was saved by an army physician who performed a tracheotomy using his pocket-knife while still under fire.
10.
Meir Har-Zion served again as a captain during the Yom Kippur War, on the Golan front, rescuing injured soldiers behind enemy lines.
11.
Meir Har-Zion became a right-wing writer and patron to movements such as Homesh First.
12.
Meir Har-Zion died on March 14,2014, from natural causes at the age of 80 at his farm.
13.
Meir Har-Zion's funeral was attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, and other ministers and dignitaries.