Avraham Yoffe

Abraham Yoffe
אברהם יפה‎
Faction represented in the Knesset
1974–1977	Likud
Personal details
Born	(1913-10-25)October 25, 1913 Yavne'el, Ottoman Empire
Died	April 11, 1983(1983-04-11) (aged 69) Israel

Abraham Yoffe (Hebrew: אברהם יפה, romanized: Avraham Yoffe, October 25, 1913 – April 11, 1983) was an Israel general during the Six-Day War. He later entered politics and served as a member of the Knesset for Likud between 1974 and 1977.^[1]

Yoffe was born on 21 Tishrei 5674 (October 10, 1913) in Yavne'el to Chaim and Miriam (née Kavshana) Yoffe, who made aliyah from Russia and settled in Yavne'el. His siblings are Uri, Shaul, and Hannah. He studied at Mikveh Israel, where he joined the Haganah at the age of 16. Initially a member of the HaMahanot HaOlim movement, he switched in 1931 to Hashomer Hatzair, where he served as an instructor and became known for organizing "Indian" performances.^[2] In the winter of 1935–1936, he attended a Hashomer Hatzair conference in Poprad, traveling across Europe and visiting various Hashomer Hatzair branches. He returned to the Land of Israel in April 1936.^[3]

In 1936, he was among the first to enlist in the Notrim and participated in the establishment of Kibbutz Tel Amal (Nir David) in the Beit She'an Valley,^[3] the first of the Tower and Stockade settlements. He worked as a teacher and instructor at Beit Alfa, where his efforts to integrate the children’s group into Hashomer Hatzair contributed to a division within Beit Alfa.^[4] During Orde Wingate's stay in Tel Amal, Yoffe joined Wingate's unit and learned from him.^[3]

In 1940, during World War II, Yoffe was instructed to enlist in an artillery unit of the British Army,^[5] where he served for three years defending various sites in the Land of Israel and learning anti-aircraft defense. In 1943, he was stationed temporarily in Cyprus. During his service, in both the Land of Israel and Cyprus, he engaged in smuggling weapons from the British army for the Haganah, under the command of Yehuda Arazi.^[3] From Cyprus, Yoffe returned to Israel for an officers' course, after which he was assigned to a transport unit in Benghazi. He was discharged in 1947 with the rank of captain. After his release from the British army, he stayed in Europe, where he became active in the Mossad LeAliyah Bet, assisting Jewish immigration efforts. Later, he returned to his kibbutz and raised geese. In November 1947, he rejoined the Haganah and established the Barak Infantry Battalion 12. He subsequently founded Battalion 13 (Gideon) in the Jordan Valley and commanded it during the War of Independence,^[6] including battles in the Beit She'an Valley.^[7] As part of the Levanoni Brigade, the battalion later came under the command of the Golani Brigade, where Yoffe was appointed the brigade's operations officer. He was wounded in the final stages of the war during Operation Hiram.

After the war, he was appointed commander of Battalion 89 of Brigade 8, and in 1950, he was appointed commander of the Golani Brigade.^[8] A year later, he became an instructor in the battalion commander's course, and in 1953, he was appointed commander of Brigade 9 (Oded Brigade), which he led during Operation Kadesh, where the brigade captured Sharm El Sheikh.^[9][10] Earlier, in 1955, he spent three months studying in England.^[3] In February 1957, he was sent to South Africa for a month and a half to raise funds for the United Jewish Appeal.^[11] Upon his return, he commanded the Officer School^[12] and, in August 1957, was appointed head of the Training Department.^[13] In April 1958, he was sent to the United States on behalf of the Independence Development Loan for three months.^[14]

In July 1958, Yoffe took command of the Southern Command^[12] and was promoted to the rank of major general in May 1959. In 1962, he became the Northern Command Chief, following the retirement of Meir Zorea. He retired from the military in April 1965.

During his military service, Yoffe served as the chairman of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.^[15] Immediately upon his retirement from the IDF, he was appointed director of the authority, replacing Uzi Paz, who relinquished the role for him. During his tenure, he established the Hai-Bar nature reserves in Yotvata in 1968 and in the Carmel and organized the importation of animals mentioned in the Bible, such as the onager and the Persian fallow deer, to reserves in Israel.

During the Six-Day War, Yoffe was recalled to command Division 31, a reserve division composed of Brigade 200 and Brigade 520. The division fought along the central route in the Sinai, capturing Jebel Libni, Bir Lafhan, and the Mitla Pass.

Yoffe commanded a troop division in Egypt during the attack on the Sinai Peninsula through Wadi Haroudin, an area impassable to the Israeli tanks. His army captured the Bir-Lafhan junction, effectively preventing the Egyptians from calling for reinforcements. Yoffe and his four brigades on the Egyptian front avoided any areas of heavy enemy concentration and rushed to the passes; he traversed unguarded terrain because the Egyptians believed that tanks could not cross over dunes. Then, General Israel Tal's elite tank division and General Sharon would follow behind, forcing the Egyptians back into a deathtrap that was guaranteed to wipe out the third of their army that resided in the Sinai. The basis of the plan was for Yoffe to attack the Egyptians from the flank and drive them to retreat into the Mitla Pass, where Sharon and Tal would wipe them out.

As was seen through the first four days of the war, when Israel and Egypt were locked in combat, this plan succeeded beyond expectations, forcing the Egyptian retreat. On the eve of the first day of fighting, after intense battles, Tal's forces reached El-Arish and Sharon's division prevailed in the most important encounter in north Sinai in the Battle of Abu-Ageila. Meanwhile, Yoffe's division advanced on the Egyptian defences and captured the Bir-Lafhan junction. By the end of the first day, part of Tal's division headed north to the Gaza Strip, and by June 7, the IDF captured Gaza City.

On the fourth day of the war, June 8, 1967, the Egyptian forces were defeated. General Tal's division conquered Qantara on the banks of the Suez Canal, continuing south along the canal to join up with the main force of the division, which continued from Bir Gifgafa to the Suez Canal in the Ismailiya sector. South of them, General Yoffe's division also continued towards the canal along two axes in the Suez sector. Meanwhile, another force of his division continued on another route to Ras-Sudar on the Gulf of Suez, south of the canal. From there, the force continued south along the Gulf of Suez and reached Abu- Zenima, where it met up with the paratroopers coming from E-Tur.

According to Michael Oren:

"Though fifty-three years old and paunchy, the director of Israel's Nature Protection Society, Avraham Yoffe, was a seasoned fighter in Sinai. In 1956, he had led an infantry column down the peninsula's eastern coast to capture Sharm al-Sheikh. Later, as head of the Southern Command, he developed contingency plans for moving tanks over desert wastes that were widely believed insurmountable. Summoned a few weeks before the war by Gen. Gavish, Yoffe had arrived at camp in civilian clothes, thinking he was making a courtesy call. He returned in a brigadier general's uniform and took charge of the 31st Ugdah with its two reserve brigades, each with 100 tanks. His assignment was to penetrate Sinai south of Tal's forces and north of Sharon's, dividing the two fronts and preventing enemy reinforcements from reaching either. Then, dashing eastward, he would attack Egypt's second line of defence while its first was still busy fighting."^[16]

In 1973, Yoffe helped establish Likud (initially as an independent movement and later as part of the La'am faction). As a member of Likud, he was elected to the Eighth Knesset after the Yom Kippur War, serving on the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and the Internal Affairs and Environment Committee. Ahead of the Ninth Knesset elections, he announced that he would not seek a place on the Likud list.^[17] In 1981, he was placed in the last candidate position (120th) on the Tehiya list for the Tenth Knesset elections.

General Yoffe had an important role in the discovery of Bar Kokhba letter in a cave in Judaean Desert. He participated in the archaeological exploration with Yigael Yadin in a cave earlier plundered by Bedouin and researched by another archaeological team. Yoffe suggested using advanced military equipment, which resulted in buried artifacts being discovered. That find is among the most important for the study of the Bar Kokhba revolt against Romans.^[18]

In 1963, while on military duty, Avraham Yoffe was permitted to serve as a chairman of the newly created Nature Reserves Authority Council. In November 1964, he retired from the military, and in May 1965, he was appointed director of the Nature Reserves Authority, where he served for 14 years, replaced by Adir Shapira in 1978.^[19]

Yoffe had three children: his first son, Dani, born to him and his first wife, Yehudit (who was killed in a car accident in 1941), and two daughters, Roni and Ruti, from his second wife, Aviva née Schlossberg (1921–1998), the sister of Leah Rabin.

His cousins include Avraham Yoffe (pilot), Hannah Yoffe, and Yossi Yoffe.

The Avraham Bridge, spanning Nahal Besor near the Eshkol National Park, is named in his honor. The bridge was named after him during his lifetime, originally built as a Bailey bridge by the IDF in 1962. Yaffe, as the former Southern Command Chief, had promised the Negev settlers to establish the bridge as a solution to the floods in Nahal Besor, which often blocked crossing the stream. The bridge was completed after he moved to Northern Command, yet it retained his name.^[20]

A public park, "Gan Avraham," is named after him on HaKotzer Street in his hometown of Ramat HaSharon, along with streets named in his honor in the cities of Afula, Holon, and Be'er Sheva.

• Ran Edelist and Dani Yoffe, Who Sent the Wild Donkey Free? Avraham Yoffe - "The Zionist Zorba", Ministry of Defense – Publishing House, 2008.

• Avraham Yoffe on the Knesset website