Haim Laskov | |
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 Haim Laskov in 1952 | |
| Born | 1919 Barysaw,Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic |
| Died | December 8, 1982 (age 62-63) Israel |
| Allegiance |  Israel |
| Service |  British Army Haganah Israel Defense Forces |
| Years of service | 1932–1965 |
| Rank |  Rav Aluf (Chief of Staff; highest rank) |
| Battles / wars | World War II 1948 Arab–Israeli War Suez Crisis |
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Haim Laskov (Hebrew:חיים לסקוב; 1919 – 8 December 1982) was an Israeli public figure and the fifthChief of Staff of theIsrael Defense Forces.
Haim Laskov was born inBarysaw in theByelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (present-dayBelarus). Heimmigrated toPalestine with his family in 1925. The family settled inHaifa, where they lived in dire poverty.
Laskov joined theHaganah as a teenager, and served in various units, includingOrde Wingate'sSpecial Night Squads. He also served as a personal messenger forYaakov Dori, who would later become the first Chief of Staff. In 1940, Laskov joined theBritish Army so that he could participate inWorld War II. He served in various capacities, and was a commander of theJewish Brigade which saw action on theItalian front, eventually reaching the rank ofmajor. After the war, he remained in Europe to participate in theAliyah Bet illegal immigration effort to bringrefugeeJews to Palestine. Along with other veterans of the Jewish Brigade, he also took part in extrajudicial executions of Nazi war criminals and their collaborators as vengeance for crimes committed against Jews. Upon eventually returning to Palestine, he rejoined the Haganah, while also working as chief of security for theelectric company.
Laskov was married to Shulamit.[1]
When the1948 Arab–Israeli War erupted in 1948, Laskov assumed responsibility for preparing the framework in which new recruits would be trained. He organized the first officers' course, and formed the graduates into a brigade that fought atLatrun duringOperation Nahshon.[2] One month later, in May 1948, he returned to Latrun as commander of Israel's first armored battalion, which fought alongside the7th Brigade. He commanded the entire brigade duringOperation Dekel andOperation Hiram, and participated in the many battles over control of theGalilee. After the capture ofNazareth, he ordered the Palestinian population to be evacuated; this order was refused by brigade commanderBen Dunkelman.[3] In July, he finally returned to training new recruits, now with the rank of major general.
Although he had never been a pilot, Laskov was appointed commander of theIsraeli Air Force in 1951. During his tenure, the air force prepared to incorporate its first jet fighter, theMeteor. Upon completing his tenure in 1953, Laskov left the army to studyphilosophy,economics, andpolitical science (PPE) in theUnited Kingdom. He also obtained additional military training there.
In 1955, he returned to Israel, where he was appointed Deputy Chief of the General Staff and Senior Staff Officer, however, after a series of professional disputes withMoshe Dayan, he was demoted to Commander of the Armored Corps. During the 1956Sinai Campaign, he commanded the77th Division, which operated on theRafah–el-Arish–Kantara front. Upon the death ofAsaf Simchoni, Chief of theSouthern Command, in a plane crash, Laskov assumed his position, and oversaw the withdrawal of Israeli troops from theSinai Peninsula.[2]
In 1958, Laskov was appointed Chief of General Staff, replacing Moshe Dayan. His appointment took place against the backdrop of the unification ofEgypt andSyria as theUnited Arab Republic on January 31 of that year and the potential threat this posed to the security of Israel. Just two months later, on March 30, Israel and Syria exchanged heavy artillery fire across theSea of Galilee. The clashes lasted for two days, until a ceasefire was finally achieved.
On April 24, Laskov presided over a huge military parade inJerusalem to mark the tenth anniversary of Israel's independence. This took place despite warnings byJordan that such a parade would be considered an act of aggression. During the parade, Laskov displayed Israel's latest military hardware, including weapons captured from Egypt in the Sinai and from Syria during clashes in theHula Valley.
On November 6, Syria resumed its artillery bombardment of the Galilee, while Israeli workers were involved in a massive project drainingLake Huleh to obtain more agricultural land for the country. Under Laskov's orders, the IDF returned fire.
One of the great scandals that occurred during Laskov's tenure, was a surprise exercise to test the mobilization of the reserves, on April 1, 1959. Known as the "Night of the Ducks" (one of the coded call-up signals broadcast over the radio was "Water Fowl"), the event caused panic throughout the country, and put the armies of the neighboring Arab states on high alert. A commission of inquiry which investigated the matter found Major GeneralMeir Zorea, Senior Staff Officer, and Major GeneralYehoshafat Harkabi, Chief of Military Intelligence, responsible for the fiasco, and the two resigned their posts.
Tensions between Israel and Syria continued over the following months. On January 31, Israelattacked the Syrian village ofTawfik, overlooking the Sea of Galilee, claiming that it had been used by the Syrian army to bombard Israeli villages in the Galilee. Three Israeli soldiers were killed in the operation. The raid led to the outbreak of theRotem Crisis, during which Egypt had deployed its armed forces on Israel's undefended southern border, catching Israel off guard. On March 9, Egyptian forces started to withdraw. Laskov later described the crisis as the most dramatic of his tenure as IDF Chief of the General Staff.[4]
Laskov resigned his position of Chief of General Staff in 1961 after a relatively peaceful tenure, marred only by clashes with the Syrians. During his term, he focused on building the strength of the IDF: Israel acquired its firstsubmarine and itsSuper Mystère jets. Just before he left office, prime ministerDavid Ben-Gurion also announced that the country had built anuclear reactor outside the desert town ofDimona. The reactor, he claimed, was built for peaceful purposes.
Laskov established Israel's National Defense College to promote IDF generals' fluency in strategic concepts.[5]
In 1961, Laskov was appointed director general of the Ports Authority, and it was during his tenure that the port ofAshdod, now Israel's major port, was constructed. He also continued to write military training manuals and submitted numerous articles to military journals. In 1972, Laskov became the country's first Soldier's Ombudsman, a post he held for ten years, until his death. After theYom Kippur War in 1973, he served on theAgranat Commission, which investigated the fiascos that led to the war.
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