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// Workers AI · dad joke modeIs Yitzhak Yaakov a baker? He kneads recognition.

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Brigadier General
Yitzhak Yaakov
יצחק (יצה) יעקב
Black and white photo of a man with a moustache
Yitzhak Yaakov in 1948
Born
Yitzhak Jacobson
(יצחק יעקובסון)

(1926-03-24)24 March 1926
Tel Aviv, Palestine (Eretz Israel), British Empire
Died25 March 2013(2013-03-25) (aged 87)
Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel
Other nameYicha / Ya'tza (יצה)
Notable work2011 memoir
Military career
Allegiance
Service years
Rank
Brigadier General
Conflicts
Prosecution
CitizenshipIsraeli
OccupationRetired brigadier general
Criminal penalty
Suspended sentence
AccompliceRonen Bergman
Date apprehended
28 March 2001

Brigadier General Yitzhak Yaakov (Hebrew: יצחק יעקב, nicknamed Hebrew: יצה, romanized: Yicha or Ya'tza)[b]

Early life

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Yitzhak Yaakov was born on 24 March 1926 in Tel Aviv in British-controlled Palestine. He joined the Palmach at age 18 in 1944.[1] On the Night of the Bridges he was a machine gunner at the Gaza Bridge.[1][4] During the Israeli War of Independence he took part in the The Convoy of Ten.[5] In 1961 the IDF sent him for advanced studies abroad.[4]

Six-Day War

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Yaakov was involved in the first deployment of Israel's nuclear weapons. Israel is believed to have begun full-scale production of nuclear weapons following the 1967 Six-Day War, although it had built its first operational nuclear weapon by December 1966.[6] A Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) report from early 1967 stated that Israel had the materials to construct a bomb in six to eight weeks[7] and some authors suggest that Israel had two crude bombs ready for use during the war.[8] According to US journalist Seymour Hersh, everything was ready for production at this time save an official order to do so. Israel crossed the nuclear threshold on the eve of the Six-Day War in May 1967.[9] "[Prime Minister] Eshkol, according to a number of Israeli sources, secretly ordered the Dimona [nuclear reactor] scientists to assemble two crude nuclear devices. He placed them under the command of Brigadier General Yitzhak Yaakov, the chief of research and development in Israel's Defense Ministry. The crude atomic bombs were readied for deployment on trucks that could race to the Egyptian border for detonation in the event Arab forces overwhelmed Israeli defenses".[9] Spider (Hebrew: עכביש) was the name for the devices.[10] The name for the plan was Operation Shimshon (Hebrew: מבצע שמשון), named after the death of Samson in Judges 16:30.[10][11] It was also referred to as Operation Samson,[12][13] codename "Samson" (Hebrew: שם הקוד "שמשון"),[14][15] or (Hebrew: מבצע שמשון, romanized: Mivtza Shimshon).[10][16] General Yaakov also sometimes called the plan Operation Doomsday [he]. (Hebrew: מבצע יום הדין, romanized: Mivtza Yum Hadin).[17][15][3]

In an article titled "Last Secret of the Six-Day War" The New York Times reported that in the days before the 1967 Six-Day War Israel planned to insert a team of paratroopers by helicopter into the Sinai. Their mission was to set up and remotely detonate a nuclear bomb on a mountaintop as a warning to belligerent surrounding states. While outnumbered, Israel effectively eliminated the Egyptian Air Force and occupied the Sinai, winning the war before the test could even be set up. Yaakov referred to this operation as the Israeli Samson Option.[3]

Disclosure and prosecution

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On 28 March 2001, Yaakov was arrested at Ben Gurion Airport.[2]

Autobiography

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In 2011, Yaakov published a rewritten memoir in Israel, after discarding an earlier attempt to write about his experiences.[2]

Death

[edit]
Yitzhak Yaakov's grave in Kfar Saba.

Yaakov lived in Tel Aviv until his death.[4] He died on 25 March 2013, a day after his 87th birthday, in Tel Aviv-Yafo.[1][2]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ↑ From age 18 until shortly after the War of Independence.[1]
  2. ↑ Hebrew: יצחק (יצה) יעקב is Romanised: 'Yitzhak "Yicha" Yaakov' by Haaretz,[1] 'Yitzhak "Ya'tza" Ya'akov' by the Wilson Center,[2] and 'Itzhak Yaakov' by the The New York Times.[3]

References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Oren, Amir [in Hebrew] (26 March 2013). "Brig. General Yitzhak Yaakov, who developed arms for Israel during Six Day War, dies at 87". Haaretz (English ed.). Israel. Archived from the original on 19 September 2026. Retrieved 19 September 2026.
    Hebrew edition: אורן, אמיר [in Hebrew] (25 March 2013). תא"ל במיל' יצחק (יצה) יעקב מת בגיל 87. הארץ (in Hebrew).
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Interview with Yitzhak "Ya'tza" Ya'akov: Biography". Wilsoncenter.org. United States: Wilson Center. Archived from the original on 27 June 2017. Retrieved 19 September 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 Broad, William J.; Sanger, David E. (3 June 2017). "'Last Secret' of 1967 War: Israel's Doomsday Plan for Nuclear Display". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 4 June 2017. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 "Jacob Yaakobson Isaac Yatza" יעקב יעקובסון יצחק יצה ז"ל. Palmach.org.il (in Hebrew). Israel. Archived from the original on 21 September 2026.
  5. ↑ "70 שנים אחרי". Israelhayom.co.il. 14 December 2017. Retrieved 21 September 2026.
  6. ↑ My Promised Land, by Ari Shavit, (London 2014), page 188
  7. ↑ Cohen, Avner (1998), Israel and the Bomb, New York: Columbia University Press, p. 298, ISBN 978-0-231-10482-1
  8. ↑ Farr, Warner D. (September 1999), The Third Temple's holy of holies: Israel's nuclear weapons, The Counterproliferation Papers, Future Warfare Series, vol. 2, USAF Counterproliferation Center, Air War College, Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base, retrieved 2 July 2006
  9. 1 2 "Israel's Nuclear Weapons Program and Lessons for Iran". Council on Foreign Relations. 5 March 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  10. 1 2 3 Bergman, Ronen (2017). כך תכננה ישראל את הפיצוץ האטומי בסיני [This is how Israel planned the nuclear explosion in Sinai]. Yediot Ahronoth and Ynet (in Hebrew). הכול כבר היה ערוך ומוכן והכוח המתין לפקודה. מתקן ה"עכביש" חובר למסוק, כוח סיירת מטכ"ל נערך למשימת ... "מבצע שמשון", התוכנית הישראלית להפעלת נשק גרעיני במדבר סיני במקרה של סכנה קיומית, נחשף [The "spider" device was attached to a helicopter, the Sayeret Matkal force was prepared for the mission ... "Operation Samson", the Israeli plan to activate nuclear weapons in the Sinai Desert in the event of an existential threat, was revealed.]
  11. ↑ "Israel 'had plan to use atomic bomb in 1967'". The National (Abu Dhabi). Associated Press.
  12. ↑ Laron, Guy (29 June 2017). "The Six Day War and the Nuclear Coup that Never Was". War on the Rocks. United States.
  13. ↑ Bergman, Ronen; Shmilovitz, Tzipi (4 June 2017). "Israel planned to detonate nuclear device in Sinai during Six-Day War". Ynet..
  14. ↑ Aderet, Ofer (4 June 2017). "Israeli ex-general: Setting off nuke in Sinai in 1967 would've hurt Israel: Three years before his death in 2004, former Chief of Staff Zvi Tzur discussed the 'Samson option' – Newly-released files also reveal Israeli fears of Egyptian strikes on its nuclear reactor". Haaretz.
  15. 1 2 Broad, William; Sanger, David. ישראל תכננה פיצוץ גרעיני בסיני כאמצעי הרתעה ב–67' [Israel planned a nuclear explosion in Sinai as a deterrent in '67]. Haaretz (Hebrew edition) and The New York Times (in Hebrew).
  16. ↑ כך הגרעין הישראלי הכניע את מעצמות המערב - ללא שהופעל [This is how the Israeli nuclear weapon subdued the Western powers - without being activated]. Kikar HaShabbat (website) (in Hebrew). 6 October 2024.
  17. ↑ דגוני, רן (4 June 2017). "ישראל שקלה להטיל פצצת אטום בסיני לפני ששת הימים" ["Israel considered dropping a nuclear bomb on Sinai before the Six Days"]. Globes (newspaper) (in Hebrew).
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