Meir Har-Zion

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Meir Har-Zion (b. 1934) is an Israeli military commando fighter. He is famous for serving in Unit 101 of the Israel Defense Forces.

In September 1956, Har-Zion was wounded in a retaliatory mission, and was saved after being operated on in the field. Due to his service as one of the tactical commanders of Unit 101 and his conduct in battle, he was awarded the rank of officer and the Medal of Courage.

Once in the 1950s just before storming an Egyptian position in the Sinai, Israel's future Prime Minister, then Colonel Ariel Sharon asked Har-Zion what gave him the courage to lead from the front, and attack an entrenched enemy. Har-Zion gestured at his soldiers and said "they expect it". He then proceeded to lead the assault on the Egyptians, and routed them.

In 1954, Har-Zion's sister, Shoshana, was raped and murdered at the age 18 by a group of Arab Bedouins, while she was traveling to the Dead Sea from Jerusalem via Jordanian territory. Jordan and Israel were in a state of war at the time, and it was illegal for Israelis to enter Jordan. Heartbroken by his sister's murder, Har-Zion resigned from the army, and went to Jordan looking for vengeance. He and some friends found a group of Bedouins from the same tribe as the murderers and killed all but one old man, so that he could tell the tale. The whole episode was a throwback to biblical times, but the consequences were very 20th Century. The Jordan complained to the United Nations, and Israel arrested Har-Zion after his return. He spent a few months in jail before eventually being released without trial. He then went back to serve in Unit 101.^[1]

Currently, he lives in "Ahuzat Shoshana," a farm built on land on a mountaintop above the Jordan Valley. The farm is named after his murdered sister.

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