A venerated commander

I received the news of the passing of Brig. Gen. (res.) Dr. Aharon Davidi with great sorrow. He was an exemplary figure for me and for many others my age.

I see Davidi as a special commander, a leading combat officer and one of the creators of the IDF’s fighting force. His contribution to the molding of the IDF’s norms of combat, with an emphasis on leadership under enemy fire, was extraordinary.

Throughout all his years in the army Davidi was on the frontline of leading commanders; he was a fighter who took part in the Paratrooper Brigade’s retribution operations (the raid on Qibya, Operation Elkayam, Operation Volcano, Operation Olive Leaves and Operation Black Arrow, for which he was awarded the Medal of Courage).

He commanded paratrooper forces in Operation Kadesh (1956), at the battle at the Mitla Pass (in the Sinai Peninsula) and in the Six-Day War (1967); he fought with his troops at the front and displayed a courage and professionalism which made him a venerated commander.

In the early 1970s, following his post as chief paratrooper officer, he was sent to advise Kurdish leader Mullah Mustafa Barzani. In 1972 he retired from the IDF.

Upon his retirement he dedicated himself to academic study, received a doctorate, lectured at university, all the while being involved in a variety of volunteer activities. Among others, Davidi created the Sar-El foundation, which brings volunteers from abroad to help the IDF. It is Zionism at its purest.

The following story teaches us more than anything, in my opinion, about Aharon Davidi’s character. After the retaliatory raid on the Jordanian police station in Rahwa (Sept. 11, 1956), he paid visits to his wounded soldiers -- among them troops from the elite reconnaissance unit, Meir Har-Zion and Gideon Kressel. To the latter, a kibbutznik without a high school diploma, he said one day: “Gideon, we’ll open a preparatory course to get a high school diploma. Come, join me. I don’t have a diploma either.” They both studied and got their diplomas. Davidi would eventually become a doctor and Kressel a professor.

Only a humane officer with long-term vision, one whose strength stemmed not from his rank but from the quality of his character, could have done such a noble thing as to endow future generations of IDF officers with values of excellence, command and leadership while under enemy fire.

His actions throughout the years have not gone unnoticed, evidenced in his being chosen to light a torch of honor during Israel’s official Independence Day ceremony in 2000, and being awarded the Moskowitz Prize for Zionism in 2010.

Brig. Gen. (res.) Dr. Aharon Davidi was and will always remain a figure of excellence in the annals of IDF history, and the history of the state of Israel.