Ezra, Zakai

Ben Saadia and Hannah. Born in 1931 in Karakuk, Iraq, he attended a Beit Midrash for the study of the Torah and an elementary school, and from the age of 14, he belonged to the He-Chaluts movement in his homeland. He served three months in the Iraqi army, but because of his inclination to pioneering and Zionism, he tried several times to defect from the army. Finally, he was the first to give up his Iraqi citizenship and was one of the first in the operation “Ezra and Nehemiah” (the Iraqi Aliyah) who arrived in Israel. A few days later, he joined the Gezer group with his fellow-members. After six months, he moved to the Givat Haim farm and remained there until his enlistment in January 1950. He fell in the course of his duties on the 30th of Sivan 5712 (23.6.1952) and was brought to eternal rest in the military cemetery in Haifa