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Zvi Zamir | |
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| צבי זמיר | |
 Zamir in 1960 | |
| Born | Zvicka Zarzevsky (1925-03-03)3 March 1925 |
| Died | 2 January 2024(2024-01-02) (aged 98) Tel Aviv, Israel |
| Nationality | Israeli |
| Occupation | Director of Mossad |
| Espionage activity | |
| Allegiance |  State of Israel |
| Service branch | |
| Service years |
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| Rank | Major general |
Zvi Zamir (Hebrew:צבי זמיר; bornZvicka Zarzevsky; 3 March 1925 – 2 January 2024) was a major general in theIsrael Defense Forces and the director of theMossad from 1968 to 1974.
Born in Poland on 3 March 1925,[1][2] Zamir immigrated with his family to the thenBritish Mandate of Palestine when only seven months old. At the age of 18, Zamir began his military career, first as a soldier in theHaganah'sPalmach, a unit that included future Israeli leaders such asMoshe Dayan andYitzhak Rabin
During the1948 Arab–Israeli War, Zamir fought in the newly createdIsrael Defense Forces as an infantry platoon leader. After the war he continued climbing thechain of command, becoming a licensedreconnaissance pilot for the Artillery branch, and was eventually promoted to the commander of theSouthern Command. His final IDF post before being appointed Mossad director came in 1966, when he was appointed themilitary attaché toLondon.
During his tenure at the Mossad, he helped carry out anassassination campaign, the Israeli response to theMunich Massacre, and dealt with the lead up and aftermath of theYom Kippur War in 1973. After theWest German government refused to accept an Israelispecial forces team during the Munich hostage crisis, Zamir was sent to observe activities. He was at theFürstenfeldbruck airbase the night that the failed rescue attempt left all nine remaining Israeli hostages dead. Zamir was interviewed about the incident in 1999 when he spoke with the producer ofOne Day in September, a documentary on the massacre. In it he strongly criticized the German rescue effort for its complete lack of coordination. He had previously been interviewed on this subject for anNBC profile during their coverage of the1992 Barcelona Olympics, and he discussed the massacre several times thereafter.
Zamir was played by Ami Weinberg inSteven Spielberg's 2005 movieMunich.
His memoirs were published inHebrew in 2011 under the titleWith Open Eyes (Be'einaim Pekuhot,בעיניים פקוחות).[3]
Zamir lived inTzahala, a neighborhood in the north ofTel Aviv. He died on 2 January 2024, at the age of 98.[4]
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