Yona Efrat (; October 2, 1925 - June 4, 1993) was an Israeli military officer. Throughout his career he served as the head of the Central Command, an assistant to the IDF

Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...

, and as a member of the

Kahan Commission The Kahan Commission (ועדת כהן), formally known as the Commission of Inquiry into the Events at the Refugee Camps in Beirut, was established by the Israeli government on 28 September 1982, to investigate the Sabra and Shatila massacre (16 ...

. Efrat was the commander of the

Golani Brigade The 1st "Golani" Brigade (, ''Hativat Golani'') is an Israeli military infantry brigade. It is subordinated to the 36th Division and traditionally associated with the Northern Command. It is one of the five infantry brigades of the regular Is ...

during the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

, and he lead the brigade in the conquest of the

Golan Heights The Golan Heights, or simply the Golan, is a basaltic plateau at the southwest corner of Syria. It is bordered by the Yarmouk River in the south, the Sea of Galilee and Hula Valley in the west, the Anti-Lebanon mountains with Mount Hermon in t ...

Biography

Yona Huppert (later Efrat) was born into an

Ashkenazi Jewish Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

family in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

in 1925. In 1935 he immigrated with his family to

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

, where they settled in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

. After immigrating, his surname was Hebraized from "Huppert" to "Efrat", and some time later he joined the

Haganah Haganah ( , ) was the main Zionist political violence, Zionist paramilitary organization that operated for the Yishuv in the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine. It was founded in 1920 to defend the Yishuv's presence in the reg ...

militia. When the

1948 Palestine War The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. During the war, the British withdrew from Palestine, Zionist forces conquered territory and established the Stat ...

began, Yona Efrat enlisted in the

of the newly formed IDF. During this war he was wounded twice and participated in

Operation Uvda Operation Uvda (, ''Mivtza Uvda'') was an operation conducted by the Israel Defense Forces during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, from 5 March to 10 March 1949. It was the last campaign undertaken by the IDF during the war and its objective was to ...

, the final campaign of the war. Shortly after the war ended, he was promoted to a company commander in 1950. Efrat also fought in 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 ...

, where he was part of the Israeli force that occupied

Sharm El Sheikh Sharm El Sheikh (, , literally "bay of the Sheikh"), alternatively rendered Sharm el-Sheikh, Sharm el Sheikh, or Sharm El-Sheikh, is an Egyptian city on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, in South Sinai Governorate, on the coastal strip alo ...

in 1956. By 1966, Efrat was promoted to Colonel and was made the commander of the Golani Brigade. When the

began in 1967, Efrat and his men were part of the Israeli force that would attack the

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

. During the invasion of the Golan Heights, Efrat and the Golani Brigade were tasked with taking the hill of Tel Faher, the most fortified part of the Syrian defensive line. At the subsequent Battle of Tel Faher, Efrat's soldiers defeated the Syrians after engaging them in brutal close-quarters combat. The Israeli victory at Tel Faher caused the Syrian defenses in the area to collapse, which led to Israel conquering the Golan Heights one day later. By 1973, Efrat was promoted to Major General and was appointed as the head of the regional Central Command, a position he held 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 ...

. Efrat was later an assistant to IDF Chief of Staff

Rafael Eitan Rafael "Raful" Eitan (; 11 January 1929 – 23 November 2004) was an Israeli general, former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (Ramatkal) and later a politician, a Knesset member, and government minister. Early life Rafael Eitan was ...

during

Operation Peace for Galilee 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 ...

. In 1982, Efrat was appointed as a member of the

, which was created to investigate the Sabra and Shatila massacre. In the 1980s, Efrat became a businessman in Israel's energy industry. He died in Israel in 1993.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Efrat, Yona 1925 births 1993 deaths Israeli generals Israeli military personnel of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War Israeli people of the Six-Day War Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent Polish Ashkenazi Jews Israeli businesspeople Polish emigrants to Mandatory Palestine