Yehoshua Sagi (; 27 September 1933 – 18 February 2021) was an Israeli intelligence officer and politician. He was director of the Military Intelligence Directorate (1979–1983) a Knesset member for

Likud Likud (, ), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement (), is a major Right-wing politics, right-wing, political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon in an alliance with several right-wing par ...

(1988–1992) and mayor of the coastal city of

Bat Yam Bat Yam ( ) is a city on Israel's Mediterranean Sea coast, on the Central Coastal Plain just south of Tel Aviv. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan area and the Tel Aviv District. In , it had a population of . History British Mandate Bat Y ...

Biography

Yehoshua Sagi was born in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

during the Mandate era. He attended a high school in the

Hebrew University Secondary School Hebrew University High School (), commonly known as ''Leyada'' (literally "next to"), is a semi-private high school in Jerusalem, established in 1935 by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The school is located next to the Givat Ram campus of th ...

, and later earned a B.A. in history and international relations from

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

Military career

Sagi entered the Israeli Defense Forces in 1951. From 1953 to 1954, he served in the Southern Command, fulfilling field duties. During the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, also known as the Second Arab–Israeli War, the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel, was a British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956. Israel invaded on 29 October, having done so w ...

in 1956, he served as intelligence officer of the Armored Corps and as commander of a reconnaissance unit. Following the 1956 war, he served as an intelligence officer with the 7th Brigade, and later as assistant intelligence officer. From 1967 until 1970, he was an intelligence officer in the Southern Command, and during the

Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was fought from 6 to 25 October 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states led by Egypt and S ...

was a divisional intelligence officer. In 1974 he became assistant to the head of research at the Military Intelligence Directorate. After serving as deputy head beginning in 1978, he rose to become head of Military Intelligence in 1979. Sagi opposed

Operation Opera Operation Opera (), also known as Operation Babylon, was a surprise airstrike conducted by the Israeli Air Force on 7 June 1981, which destroyed an unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor located southeast of Baghdad, Iraq. The Israeli operation ca ...

, the 1981 Israeli attack on the Iraqi Osirak nuclear reactor, saying "I do not believe fears of a 'Second Holocaust' justify the Israeli military taking any steps it thinks fit". During the leadup to the

1982 Lebanon War The 1982 Lebanon War, also called the Second Israeli invasion of Lebanon, began on 6 June 1982, when Israel invaded southern Lebanon. The invasion followed a series of attacks and counter-attacks between the Palestine Liberation Organization ...

, Sagi was charged by Prime Minister

Menachem Begin Menachem Begin ( ''Menaḥem Begin'', ; (Polish documents, 1931–1937); ; 16 August 1913 – 9 March 1992) was an Israeli politician, founder of both Herut and Likud and the prime minister of Israel. Before the creation of the state of Isra ...

with obtaining some form of American approval for an Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon. The result was the admission by U.S. Secretary of State

Alexander Haig Alexander Meigs Haig Jr. (; 2 December 192420 February 2010) was United States Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan and White House chief of staff under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Prior to and in between these cabine ...

that the infiltration of terrorists over any of Israel's borders constituted a violation of the July 1981 ceasefire, but not terrorist actions against Israeli or Jewish targets outside of the region. Sagi was asked to resign in 1983 following the recommendations of the Kahan Commission, which had determined that he was guilty of indifference during

massacres A massacre is an event of killing people who are not engaged in hostilities or are defenseless. It is generally used to describe a targeted killing of civilians en masse by an armed group or person. The word is a loan of a French term for "b ...

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

refugee camps in Israeli-occupied

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. Sagi subsequently resigned from the army."Around the world; Israeli General Resigns From Army"
The New York Times, 15 August 1983

Political career

After leaving the IDF, he won a place on the Likud list for the 1988 elections, and won a seat in the Knesset. He served on the Finance Committee, the

Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee () is a permanent Knesset committee which oversees key Foreign and Defense issues of the State of Israel, including the drafting of legislation, supervision over related government ministries and the ...

and the Internal Affairs and Environment Committee, until losing his seat in the 1992 elections. The following year, he became mayor of

, a post he held until 2003.

References

Citations

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sagi, Yehoshua 1933 births 2021 deaths Politicians from Jerusalem Jews from Mandatory Palestine Tel Aviv University alumni Israeli generals Mayors of places in Israel People from Bat Yam Likud politicians Members of the 12th Knesset (1988–1992) Directors of the Military Intelligence Directorate (Israel) Sabra and Shatila massacre Hebrew University Secondary School alumni