Ben Dunkelman Benjamin " Ben " Dunkelman ( 1913 – June 11 , 1997 ) was a Canadian Jewish officer who served in the Canadian Army in World War II and the Israel Defense Forces in the 1948 Arab – Israeli War . In Israel , he was called Benjamin Ben - David . Biography . Early life . Benjamin Dunkelman was the son of Polish - Jewish immigrants . His father was David Dunkelman , the founder of the Canadian men ' s retailers , Tip Top Tailors and his mother was a committed Zionist . Dunkelman and his siblings grew up on an estate , Sunnybrook Farm ( now the site of Sunnybrook Medical Centre ) , northeast of Toronto . He attended Upper Canada College in Toronto . At 18 Dunkelman went off to work on a kibbutz in Palestine , at that time still under a British mandate . He returned to Toronto in 1932 to assist his father , but went again to Palestine in the late 1930s to develop new settlements . Military career . He was back in Toronto in 1939 when the Second World War war broke out . He attempted to join the Royal Canadian Navy ( RCN ) , but anti - semitism in the RCN at the time precluded a naval career . Instead Dunkelman enlisted as a private with The Queen ' s Own Rifles of Canada ; as the war progressed he rose from private to major . He was in the second wave to land on Juno beach , the Canadian beach in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944 . During his career with the regiment he earned numerous commendations and a Distinguished Service Order for his service in the Hochwald campaign . He also fought in the difficult campaigns in northern France , Belgium , the Netherlands and Germany , including bloody battles at Caen , Falaise , and the Battle of the Scheldt Estuary that led to the critical port of Antwerp . After the war , was offered command of the Queen ' s Own Rifles but declined owing to business interests at home . Dunkelman returned to Canada , but again decided to travel to war , this time to fight for Israel in the spring of 1948 . He arrived there at a time when the Israeli army was short of officers with combat experience . Initially , he took command of a mortar unit in the Mahal , the legion of Jewish and Christian foreign volunteers fighting for Israel . Dunkelman ' s skill with mortars brought him to the attention of the Israeli High Command , and he was instrumental in the breaking of the siege of Jerusalem . Shortly afterwards , he became the commander of the 7th Brigade , the country ' s best - known armored brigade . In his autobiography , called " Dual Allegiance " , Dunkelman tells the story of how , between July 8 and 18 , 1948 during Operation Dekel , he led the 7th Brigade and its supporting units as it moved to capture the town of Nazareth . Nazareth surrendered after little more than token resistance . The surrender was formalized in a written agreement , where the town leaders accepted to cease hostilities in return for solemn promises from the Israeli officers , including Dunkelman , that no harm would come to the civilians of the town . Shortly after the capture , Dunkelman received orders from General Chaim Laskov to expel the civilian population from the town , which he refused to carry out . Israeli journalist and translator Peretz Kidron , with whom Dunkelman collaborated in writing " Dual Allegiance " , reproduced his record of Dunkelman ' s account of the capture of Nazareth in a book chapter entitled " Truth Whereby Nations Live " : 12 hours after Dunkelman had refused to expel the inhabitants of Nazareth , Laskov had appointed another officer as military governor . Dunkelman ' s defiance of the evacuation order forced Laskov to attempt to obtain sanction from a higher level . However , David Ben - Gurion finally vetoed the order ; the Arab inhabitants in Nazareth were never forced to evacuate . During the war , Dunkelman met and married Yael , a fellow volunteer in the Israeli Army . Civilian career . After the war Dunkelman was offered , but refused , a commission in the peacetime Israeli Army ; the Dunkelmans returned instead to Toronto where he went into the family business , which he expanded then sold to Dylex Limited in 1967 . He later became a developer . Among his developments were the Cloverdale Mall and the Constellation Hotel . He and his wife also ran the Dunkelman Gallery in Toronto as well as several restaurants . He was also one of the founders of the Island Yacht Club . Dunkelman lived in retirement in Toronto until his death . There is a bridge on the Lebanese border called " Gesher Ben " in Dunkelman ' s honor . His story is told in the film " Ben Dunkelman : The Reluctant Warrior " .