David Ben-Uziel

David Ben-Uziel was born in 1935 in Haifa

David Ben-Uziel was born in Haifa in 1935. He studied at the Tahkemoni school in Haifa and at a high school in Kibbutz Hulda. Friends called him "Tarzan" after he saved a boy from drowning in the Na'aman River.

He enlisted in 1952 through the Nahal and volunteered for Unit 101, later serving in the 890 Battalion. He took part in many operations, including Qibya, the Sinai War drop at Mitla and Operation Jonathan. He later advised the Ethiopian army for 2 years and held command posts in the paratroopers and the reserves.

He joined the Mossad in 1968. In 1969 he was sent to South Sudan, where he became known as "General John," and helped build and train the rebel army during the first Sudanese civil war. He also took part in Operation Brothers to bring Ethiopian Jews to Israel and retired in 1996.

He holds a bachelor's degree from the Department of Africa and the Middle East at Tel Aviv University. His 2015 book on his mission in South Sudan won the Moldovan Prize for New Military Literature. After South Sudan's independence in 2011, he was appointed its representative in Israel.

He is also a photographer. In 2005 he retraced the route of the Long March across China, and his photographs were shown in Tel Aviv in 2022. He is married to Ruthie and has 2 sons.