General Dan Shomron, Chief of Staff, IDF

Dan Shomron, The forgotten Hero of Entebe

Lt. Gen. Dan Shomron (Hebrew: דן שומרון) (August 5, 1937 in Kibbutz Ashdot Yaakov – February 26, 2008) was the 13th Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, from 1987 to 1991.

During the Six-Day War he commanded a unit on the Egyptian front and was the first paratrooper to reach the Suez Canal. He was decorated with the Medal of Distinguished Service for this action. He also fought in the 1956 Sinai campaign.

In 1974 he received the command over the Infantry and Paratroopers Branch of the Israeli army. He had planned and commanded the Entebbe rescue operation (in which Yonatan Netanyahu, the brother of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, took part in as the breaching force commander - had been killed). He was acclaimed a hero but did not always seem comfortable with people viewing him as a hero. He said, “I also felt some kind of envy from the military and it was not comfortable for me. Around the world, until today, they look at me like something from a different world, a super super-hero, something not natural. I don’t like that feeling of being an advertisement.” When asked what was he most remembered about Operation Entebbe, which he planned and commanded, and the rescuing of the hostages, Shomron said, “When the hostages board the evacuation plane, are helped up, each one checking his family that everyone is present. That was a strong moment that I can’t forget.”

He was also in charge of the dismantling of Israeli settlements and army bases in the Sinai Peninsula, within the framework of the Camp David Accords of 1978 with Egypt.

In 1983 he established the ground forces command (in charge of the infantry, tanks, artillery and engineer corps) and was its first commander.

At the age of 50, in 1987 he became the 13th Chief Staff of the IDF. He held this position until 1991. After finishing his term, he served as the Chairman of the Israeli Military Industries. He died on February 26, 2008, from complications of a brain aneurysm three weeks earlier, at the age of 70. He is survived by his wife and two children.

Shomron was played by Charles Bronson in the film Raid on Entebbe (1977). Shomron is considered by many Israelis to be one of the greatest commanders that Israel has ever had.