Shlomo Gazit

Shlomo Gazit was born in 1926 in Istanbul

Shlomo Gazit was born Shlomo Weinstein in Istanbul to Tzipora and Efraim, a family of Eastern European origin. His older brother was Mordechai Gazit. He moved to the Land of Israel in 1933 and grew up in Tel Aviv.

While still in high school, he joined the Haganah in 1942 and the Palmach in 1944. He became a platoon commander and fought in the War of Independence with the Harel Brigade, where he was wounded. He later held staff and command posts and headed the research department of Military Intelligence from 1964 to 1967.

In 1967 Defense Minister Moshe Dayan put him in charge of a body managing affairs in the newly captured territories. From 1974 to 1978 he headed the Military Intelligence Directorate.

After leaving the army, he served as president of Ben-Gurion University. From 1985 to 1987 he was director general of the Jewish Agency, and from 1988 he worked at the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University. He wrote books on Israeli policy in the territories and the military balance in the Middle East.