Uriel Hefetz

Uriel Hefetz was born in 1922 in Vienna

Hefetz was born in Vienna in 1922 and came to the Land of Israel with his parents, Sarah and Elhanan Hefetz. He grew up in the Rehavia neighborhood of Jerusalem and belonged to the Betar movement. He studied at the Tachkemoni school and at the Hebrew Gymnasium.

He joined the Irgun, built hidden arms caches and developed weapons. In 1944 he took part in the attack on the British police headquarters in the Russian Compound, was caught, and was later exiled to detention camps in Africa. There he devised escape methods that helped several detainees return.

In 1948 he served as engineering officer of the Etzioni Brigade and proposed a hidden cable car over the Hinnom Valley to supply besieged Mount Zion. In the 1950s he built a cable car on Mount Susita and developed a vehicle airdrop method adopted by the IDF. In the Sinai War he helped breach minefields in the Gaza Strip, and he later took part in planning the 1972 Sabena rescue.

On 15 May 1974, as a civilian, he rushed to the Ma'alot attack and helped 17 children escape through a window. A grenade wounded him, he saved 2 more children, and he was left paralyzed. He died in 1978, was recognized as a fallen IDF soldier and was buried on Mount Herzl.