Ben-Ze’ev, David

Son of Ruchama and Abraham, was born in 1915 in Odessa, Russia, to an established Zionist family and immigrated to Israel in 1923. After graduating from high school he worked as a driver in the Dead Sea and in various transport companies; Afterward he set up a driving school and became known as a successful driving instructor. David was active in the Haganah since the age of 17 and trained youth groups. He enlisted in the Mandate government and served there for three years, then served for two years in the Jewish settlements police. During the 1936 riots, he served in the defense of Moshav Atarot and the Mekor Haim neighborhood, where he served as the commander of a platoon in Talpiot, accompanied by caravans on the Jerusalem-Tel-Aviv road He was a staunch fighter and a high-ranking soldier devoted to his friends, gave fatherly treatment to his subordinates and authorized them to leave, even if He knew he would have to keep them in place, and before the war broke out, he built an apartment for himself in Sanhedria, and when they warned him that this was the place “It is a duty to settle all of Jerusalem, and I am Simcha to be among its founders.” On the last day of the first truce, on July 7, 1948, when a squad was attacked in the southern house on the Bethlehem road, To her aid and passed on the way under a volley of bullets. During the difficult battle he encouraged his friends: “One moment – and rage will pass.” David fell on the road between Ramat Rachel and Arnona, and was buried in Sanhedria in Jerusalem. He left a wife, a son, and a daughter. On the 5th of Elul 5711 (6.9.1951), he was put to rest at the military cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.