Mordechai Tzipori

Mordechai Tzipori was born in 1924 in Petah Tikva

Tzipori was born Mordechai Bankovich-Hendin in Petah Tikva in 1924 and went to a religious school there. He joined the Irgun in 1939. In 1945 the British arrested him and sent him to detention camps in Eritrea, Kenya and Sudan, where he took part in escape attempts.

He returned after Israel's independence in 1948 and joined the IDF. He completed an officers' course in 1950 and graduated from the Command and Staff College in 1959. He also studied at Tel Aviv University.

He moved to the Armored Corps and commanded the 14th Armored Brigade in the Six-Day War. He later led the Armor School and served as deputy commander of the Armored Corps. He left the army with the rank of brigadier general.

In 1977 he was elected to the Knesset for Likud and became Deputy Minister of Defense. After the 1981 elections he became Minister of Communications, and he criticized the conduct of the First Lebanon War. He lost his seat in the 1984 elections.

From 1986 to 1993 he was Director-General of the National Insurance Institute. He was married to Tova Glass, and they had 4 children. He died in 2017.