Meir Amit

Meir Amit, born Meir Slutsky (17 March 1921–17 July 2009), was one of the figures who helped shape Israel during its formative decades. He moved from the Haganah and the Golani Brigade to the senior command of the Israel Defense Forces, led Military Intelligence and Mossad, and later served as a Knesset member, cabinet minister, industrial executive, and public leader. His career traces Israel’s transformation from a community fighting for survival into a state building durable military, intelligence, economic, and communications institutions.

From the Galilee to the Haganah and the IDF

Amit was born in Tiberias to Haya and Shimon Slutsky, who had immigrated to Palestine in 1920 from Chernigov. His family later lived in Jerusalem and Ramat Gan, where his parents were active in local community life. He studied in Giv'atayim, Giv'at HaShlosha, and at the Balfour High School in Tel Aviv. In 1939 he joined Kibbutz Alonim in the Lower Galilee and remained a member until 1952.

In 1936, while still in school, he joined the Haganah. From 1940 to 1945 he served in the Notrim, completed commanders’ courses at Ramat Yohanan and Ju'ara, and became a platoon commander in the HISH field forces. In 1947 he commanded a regional company in the Dror Battalion, Battalion 14 of the Golani Brigade. During the War of Independence he fought at Mishmar HaEmek and in the Jezreel Valley, took part in operations that secured the Lower Galilee, and was wounded in the battle for Jenin. During Operation Hiram he served as deputy commander of Golani’s 15th Battalion and later commanded the mechanized 19th Battalion, based at Yavne'el. His battalion fought in Operation Horev, and during Operation Uvda its soldiers were among the first Golani troops to reach Eilat.

Amit remained in the IDF after the war and helped build its command structure. He served as deputy commander and then commander of the Golani Brigade, including during the Battle of Tel Mutilla. He later headed the Training Directorate, led the Operations Department of the General Staff, commanded the Southern Command, and became a major general in 1956. As head of the General Staff’s Operations Branch, he planned and directed Operation Kadesh. From 1958 to 1959 he commanded Central Command. A serious parachuting accident left him hospitalized for more than a year, but after recovering he continued his professional development and studied at Columbia University in the United States.

Building Israel’s intelligence community

In early 1962 Amit became head of Military Intelligence. On 26 March 1963, following Isser Harel’s retirement, he was appointed director of Mossad. For approximately nine months he headed both Military Intelligence and Mossad, and he remained Mossad director until 1968. He led the organization at a time when Israel needed to combine intelligence collection, operational capability, strategic analysis, and relationships beyond its borders.

One of his important organizational decisions was the transfer of Unit 188, the Intelligence Directorate’s operational unit commanded by Colonel Yosef Yariv, to Mossad. It was merged with the special-operations unit known as Mifratz to form Caesarea. Amit also supported the intelligence role of Sayeret Matkal, the IDF General Staff Reconnaissance Unit. These changes strengthened the institutional connection between intelligence and operations, a connection that became central to Israel’s security system.

Several operations associated with Amit’s tenure had lasting strategic significance. In 1965 Mossad operatives were sent against the Nazi war criminal Herberts Cukurs. In 1966 Operation Diamond brought Iraqi pilot Munir Redfa and his MiG-21 to Israel. Amit also developed ties with the Kurds in Iraq and visited the region several times. On the eve of the Six-Day War he traveled to Washington, D.C.; on his return he reported his assessment that the American administration would not oppose a preemptive Israeli strike against Egypt. After the war he pressed for the release, in the context of prisoner exchanges, of the Israeli prisoners associated with the Lavon Affair and of Wolfgang and Waltraud Lotz.

From intelligence to industry, politics, and communications

After leaving Mossad, Amit entered the world of national-scale industry. From 1968 to 1977 he was chief executive of Koor Industries, the Histadrut’s industrial conglomerate and one of Israel’s largest industrial enterprises. His experience in command and systems planning became an asset in civilian management at a time when Israel was seeking to develop an independent industrial and economic base.

In 1977 Amit left the Labor Party with a group known as the Amit Group and joined the Democratic Movement for Change, Dash. He was elected to the Ninth Knesset, served on the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, and became minister of transportation and minister of communications in Menachem Begin’s government. He held those portfolios until 15 September 1978. After Dash broke apart, he participated in the formation of the Movement for Change and Initiative and later returned to the Labor Party.

After leaving the Knesset, Amit continued working in fields of national importance. In 1981 he co-founded the General Satellite Services Company with Hezi Carmel and Jean Friedman. The company initiated the Amos communications-satellite project. Amit chaired the company and its subsidiary Spacecom, established in 1993 with Israel Aerospace Industries and other partners. His involvement helped lay foundations for Israel’s satellite-communications sector and its connection to advanced international communications infrastructure.

He also chaired the Israeli airline Maof Airways, served as a director of the Israel Corporation and other companies, and represented business leaders and firms including Yakhin-Hakal, Teva, Zion Insurance, Elta, Tadiran, and Elisra. Alongside his business work he held important public positions: he served on the board of Tel Aviv University’s Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, on the Council for Economic Planning, as chairman of the Israel Center for Management, and as president of the Center for Intelligence Heritage.

Recognition and commemoration

In 1997 Amit was named an honorary citizen of Ramat Gan. In 2003 he received the Israel Prize for pioneering and diverse activity, significant security work, and the promotion and development of Israel’s economy and industry. The award recognized the breadth of his contribution: he was not only a senior military and intelligence leader, but also a builder of civilian institutions and national capabilities.

Amit was survived by his wife, Yona née Kalman, three daughters, and grandchildren. Streets in Netanya and Ramat HaSharon bear his name, and a neighborhood in Ramat Gan was named for him. The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center continues to commemorate his memory through research and information about terrorist organizations, linking personal remembrance with the professional study of security challenges.

Why this legacy belongs in Moreshet

Meir Amit merits a prominent place in Moreshet because his life intersected with several decisive stages in Israel’s development. He helped defend the Jewish community and the young state, contributed to the creation of the IDF, led Military Intelligence and Mossad, strengthened Israel’s strategic capabilities, and later applied his experience to industry, communications, public service, and the preservation of intelligence heritage.

His importance lies not only in individual operations or official titles. Amit represents a generation of leaders who had to build institutions from the ground up — military and intelligence services, industrial enterprises, and advanced communications infrastructure — while transferring responsibility from underground organizations to the institutions of a sovereign state. For that reason, his story belongs in Moreshet.com: it shows how security, leadership, institutional innovation, and public service helped shape Jewish and Israeli life and contributed to the development of a modern state.