Meir Amit

Meir Amit was born in 1921 in Tiberias

Amit was born in Tiberias in 1921 as Meir Slutsky, to Haya and Shimon Slutsky, who had come to the Land of Israel from Chernigov in 1920. The family later lived in Jerusalem and then in Ramat Gan. He studied at the Balfour Gymnasium in Tel Aviv and in 1939 joined kibbutz Alonim, where he was a member until 1952.

He joined the Haganah in 1936 and fought in the War of Independence with the Golani Brigade, where he was wounded in the battle for Jenin. He stayed in the army, commanded the Golani Brigade and later the Southern and Central Commands. As head of the General Staff Operations Directorate he planned and ran Operation Kadesh.

After a serious parachuting injury, he studied at Columbia University in the United States and earned an MBA. He became head of Military Intelligence in 1962 and head of the Mossad on 26 March 1963, serving until 1968. His term included Operation Diamond in 1966, when an Iraqi pilot flew a MiG 21 to Israel, as well as the capture of agent Eli Cohen in Damascus.

From 1968 to 1977 he was CEO of Koor Industries. He was elected to the Knesset in 1977 for the Democratic Movement for Change and served as Minister of Transportation and Minister of Communications in the Begin government until 15 September 1978. He moved to Shinui and in 1980 joined the Labor party.

In 1981 he co-founded a satellite services company that started the Amos communications satellite project. He received the Israel Prize in 2003 and died in 2009. He was survived by his wife Yona and three daughters.