Ya'akov Tsur

Ya'akov Tsur was born in 1936 in Netanya

Tsur was born in 1936 and grew up in Ramat Tiomkin, now part of Netanya, the eldest son of Hillel and Shulamit Tsur. His father, an Irgun member, was exiled by the British to a detention camp in Africa in 1944 and later held at Latrun and Atlit until 1948. Tsur studied at the Tachkemoni school and belonged to the Betar youth movement.

He joined the IDF in August 1954 and finished an artillery officers course in late 1955. He fought at the Mitla battle in the Sinai War and later commanded paratrooper artillery units in reserve, including in the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War. From 1977 to 1982 he commanded the Kadur HaEsh artillery formation.

He graduated in mechanical engineering from the Technion in 1961 and worked in project management. From 1972 to 1977 he advised the Iranian navy in Tehran at intervals. In 1979 he entered career service as head of land weapons, later served as research and development attaché in Washington, and retired in 1987.

After retiring he worked as a consultant on military technology and sat on a Defense Ministry team for future armored vehicles. He has written 5 books. He married Ziva, who died in 2024, and they had 3 children; their eldest son Eyal was killed in Lebanon in April 1982.