Meir Zorea Meir " Zarro " Zorea MC ( , born Meyer Zarodinsky ( ) on 14 March 1923 , died 24 June 1995 ) was a general in the Israel Defense Forces ( IDF ) and later a member of the Knesset . He earned distinction through his combat actions in World War II and in the Israeli War of Independence . He was a founder of Democratic Movement for Change , an initially successful but short - lived centrist party . Early life . Zorea was born in Chişinău , Bessarabia ( then part of the Kingdom of Romania , now in Moldova ) in 1923 , and moved to Mandatory Palestine in 1925 . He was a teenager at the outbreak of World War II , but in 1942 joined the Jewish Brigade , a temporary military element of the British military . During late winter in 1945 , Zorea ' s Brigade took part in combat against the German army at the Senio River Valley ( near Bologna , Italy ) . After two difficult months , the brigade emerged from the engagement battered , yet victorious . Then a second lieutenant , Zorea was awarded the British Military Cross for leading his men through intense fire . Eventually , Zorea attained the rank of captain before the brigade was dissolved in 1946 . The Jewish Brigade , largely used as a front for Haganah resistance operations , provided opportunities for arms smuggling to Jewish resistance groups in the British Mandate of Palestine , directing European Jewish Holocaust survivors in emigration to Palestine ( " see Beriha " ) , and executing Nazi officials and military officers . Zorea took part in all of these activities . Regarding emigration to Palestine , Zorea remarked : To facilitate execution of Nazis , Jewish Brigade members would traverse post - war Europe in bands of three and four . Zorea explained : Participation in the Israeli military . Dozens of former Jewish Brigade members were called upon to lead the Israel Defense Forces ( IDF ) in anticipation of the impending War of Independence . At the time , former brigade members were among the few Israelis with military background . During the 1948 war , Zorea served as a battalion commander . Later , Zorea served on the General Staff as the head of the training department . He also served as Commander of the IDF Officer School . Zorea retired from the army in 1953 , and he was later recommissioned in 1956 . He went on to positions as Deputy Commander and later Commander of Israel ' s tank corps , and Director of Operations . At the time , Zorea was considered a candidate for eventual appointment as Chief of General Staff , the highest position in the IDF . In 1959 , after the Night of the Ducks scandal that brought Israel to domestic and foreign crisis , Zorea was removed from his position as Director of Operations . He was reassigned as Commander of Northern Command , succeeding Yitzhak Rabin , who in turn replaced Zorea as the new Director of Operations . In 1962 , Zorea retired from the IDF as a Major - General . He participated in the Israeli capture of Adolf Eichmann , who stood trial and was later executed . Later on , during the 1967 Six - Day War , Zorea led his tank corps into the Sinai Peninsula to capture Sharm el - Sheikh from Egypt ian forces . In the 1980s , Zorea was involved in the investigation of the Kav 300 affair , wherein some Israeli soldiers were suspected of killing two captured Arab terrorists . Civilian activity . As a civilian , Zorea was a member of the Israeli Scouts Movement and a founder of kibbutz Ma ' agan Michael . He also served as a police cadet . Political activity . Zorea remained active in service of the State of Israel well after retirement from the military . From 1973 to 1974 , Zorea served as Soldiers ' Ombudsman . From 1976 – 1977 , he served as Director of the Israel Lands Authority . While originally a member of the left - wing Mapam Party , Zorea joined with Professor Yigael Yadin in 1976 to form Democratic Movement for Change , a centrist party formed by an alliance of former members of the Alignment and Likud parties . One of the party ' s stated goals was to introduce a national constitution into Israeli Law . Zorea was elected to the Knesset in the 1977 elections in which Dash won 15 seats ( making it the third largest in the Knesset ) , and the party joined Menachem Begin ' s coalition government . While serving in the Knesset , Zorea became a member of the House Committee , the Finance Committee , and the Foreign Affairs & Defense Committee . However , the party began to disintegrate and Zorea resigned from the Knesset in 1978 , less than a year after entering it . In 1984 he headed a committee of inquiry into the Bus 300 Affair . He died in 1995 , at the age of 72 .