Hero of Israel

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Hero of Israel (Hebrew: גיבור ישראל) is an Israeli military decoration that was awarded during the War of Independence. When the IDF was first established in May 1948, a system of decorations had not yet been instituted, but many soldiers who had distinguished themselves in battle were recommended by their officers for awards. The army command installed a committee to decide on a system of decorations, and a contest was written out for the public to design medals. However, after more than a year, no decisions had been taken and in the summer of 1949 it was decided that, as a “temporary solution", 12 decorations would be awarded to a selection of soldiers who were representative for the different IDF units and who had distinguished themselves by the highest level of heroism.

The number 12 was symbolic for the twelve tribes of Israel - while interestingly enough the title "Hero of Israel" resembles the Russian "Hero of the Soviet Union". As is hardly remembered nowadays, throughout the 1948 war the young Israel maintained what amounted to a de-facto military alliance with the Soviet Union - short-lived but at the time a major factor in the Israeli victory, with vital arms supplies arriving from Soviet satellite Czechoslovakia while the United States at that time maintained a strict arms embargo against Israel. Moreover, the Soviet Union enjoyed high popularity among Jews in Israel (as elsewhere) for having recently fought and defeated Nazi Germany and liberated the Jews who survived the Holocaust, and many officers of the new IDF - especially those of the Palmach, imbued with the ideology of Socialist Zionism - admired the Soviet Red Army and consciously sought to emulate its institutions and strategies.

The award ceremony was held on July 17, 1949. After a military parade, President Chaim Weizman, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and IDF Chief of Staff Yaakov Dori awarded the decoration to the recipients or their dependents (4 awards were given posthumously).

After this ceremony, the committee continued to work on a system of decorations, but it was never brought to a solution and so the Hero of Israel ribbon was never awarded again. Instead, in 1970 it was replaced with the Medal of Valor. All recipients of the Hero of Israel automatically received the Medal of Valor as well.

[edit] Design

The decoration is designed in the form of a red ribbon bar, charged with a clasp of the Israeli coat of arms made of gold.

[edit] Recipients

Name	Rank	Conflict	Place of action	Date of action	Notes
Yair Racheli	Private	War of Independence	Near Shefa-'Amr	19 Jan 1948	Received the medal for destroying an enemy position
Emmanuel Landau	Private	War of Independence	Kiryat Motzkin	17 Mar 1948	Received the medal for capturing an enemy supply truck
Abraham Avigdorov	Private	War of Independence	Kiryat Motzkin	17 Mar 1948	Received the medal for destroying two enemy Bren machine gun positions
Zerubavel Horowitz	Second Lieutenant	War of Independence	Road to Jerusalem	27 Mar 1948	Received the medal for covering the retreat of his comrades from an enemy attack
Yizhar Armoni	Private	War of Independence	Nabi Yusha	20 Apr 1948	Received the medal for covering the retreat of his comrades and evacuation of wounded soldiers
Emil Brig	Sergeant	War of Independence	Kibbutz Gesher area	14 May 1948	Received the medal for blowing a bridge and thus preventing the enemy from advancing during
Zvi Zibel	Airman	War of Independence	Ben Shemen	25 Jun 1948	Received the medal for delivering supplies to the besieged Ben Shemen while under heavy enemy fire
Ben-Zion Leitner	Private First Class	War of Independence	Iraq Suedan	19 Oct 1948	Received the medal for destroying enemy bunkers during
Ron Feller	Sergeant	War of Independence	Kartiya	19 Jul 1948	Received the medal for destroying an enemy tank
Yohai Ben-Nun	Captain	War of Independence	Mediterranean Sea	22 Oct 1948	Received the medal for sinking the Egyptian Navy flag ship
Siman-Tov Ganeh	Private	War of Independence	Iraq Suedan	19 Nov 1948	Received the medal for covering the retreat of his comrades
Arieh Atzmoni	Master Sergeant	War of Independence	Rafah	4 Nov 1948	Received the medal for rescuing a canon from enemy hands