Zvi Bar

Zvi Bar was born in 1935 in Kfar Yona

Zvi Bar was born in 1935 in Kfar Yona. His father, Yaakov Barazani, came from Iraqi Kurdistan, and his mother, Bracha Katz, came from Sighet in Hungary. The family name was changed to Bar on the advice of David Ben-Gurion.

He went to Tchernichovsky high school in Netanya. He later attended staff college in Israel and the war college in France. In 1976 he completed a BA in political science at Bar-Ilan University.

Bar joined the Givati Brigade in 1954 and became an officer, then moved to the Paratroopers. He commanded Battalion 202 in the Six-Day War and in the 1968 Battle of Karameh. He led the 820th Brigade in the Yom Kippur War and later the 166th Armored Brigade.

After his degree he joined the Israel Police and became commander of the Border Police. He headed the police operations department from 1983 to 1985. In 1989 he was elected mayor of Ramat Gan for the Likud, and he led the city during the 1991 Gulf War.

In 2015 he was convicted of taking bribes and money laundering and sentenced to prison. The Supreme Court cut the sentence to 3 years, and he began serving it in 2017. President Reuven Rivlin shortened the sentence, and he was released in 2017.