Amos Horev

Amos Horev was born in 1924 in Jerusalem

Amos Horev was born Amos Sochaczewer in Jerusalem on 30 June 1924. His father ran the mechanical workshop of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. As a teenager he helped found the Gordonia youth movement in Jerusalem, and he joined the Haganah at 14.

He was among the first to join the Palmach in 1941 and rose from squad leader to company commander and deputy battalion commander. In the War of Independence he fought in the Harel Brigade around Jerusalem and later assisted Yitzhak Rabin on the southern front.

In 1950 the IDF sent him to MIT, where he earned a master's degree in mechanical engineering in 1952. He served as Chief Ordnance Officer from 1954 to 1962 and was promoted to major general in 1965. He later headed the Quartermaster Branch and served as chief scientist of the defense establishment.

After retiring from the army in 1973, he became president of the Technion and held the post until 1982. In 1974 he headed the inquiry into the Ma'alot disaster. In 2010 he was appointed to the Turkel Commission on the Gaza flotilla raid, and in 2011 he received the Israel Defense Prize for lifetime achievement.