Giora Zorea

Giora Zorea was born in 1945

Giora Zorea was born in 1945 as Giora Zarodinsky. He was the eldest of 6 sons of General Meir Zorea and Naomi Zorea, founders of Kibbutz Maagan Michael, where he grew up. As a teenager he held Israeli youth records in the 800 meter and 1,500 meter runs.

He joined the IDF in 1963 and volunteered for Sayeret Matkal, where he became a team commander after infantry officers course. His brother Yonatan, an air force pilot, was killed in the Six-Day War, and Giora later married Yonatan's girlfriend Tikva. He was wounded in 1969 and became deputy unit commander in 1970.

In 1973 he replaced Ehud Barak as commander of Sayeret Matkal and led it in the Yom Kippur War, in which his brother Yohanan was killed. The Ma'alot hostage rescue failed under his command in May 1974. In 1975 he moved to the Armored Corps and later headed units in Military Intelligence, served as military attaché in South Africa and as chief intelligence officer from 1984 to 1988.

After retiring he sat on committees that examined IDF failures, including the Peled committee. From 1995 to 2010 he was CEO of the Hod Hefer meat plant.