Last update - 00:00 08/01/2008
Former army chief of staff Moshe Levy dies at the age of 72
By Eli Askkenazi and Haaretz Service
Former IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Levy, known for his towering height and his soft-spoken ways, died early Tuesday at the age of 72.
Levy, known also by his army nickname of "Moshe v'hetzi" [Moshe-and-a-half], had been hospitalized in serious condition at the Emek Hospital in Afula since suffering a severe stroke 10 days ago.
Levy was born in Tel Aviv to a family which immigrated from Iraq. He was drafted into the army in 1954, serving first in the Golani infantry brigade. He then transferred to the paratroops, where as an officer he took part in the parachute drop into the Mitla Pass during the 1956 Sinai Campaign.
After holding a number of command positions, he succeeded Rafael Eitan as chief of staff in 1983. He completed a four year term, then left the army, returning to live at Kibbutz Bet Alfa.
After Levy's passing, Prime Minister Ehud said that "Moshe Levy was a great fighter who served the State for many years and used all his energy and capabilities to further establish the strength of the IDF. He led the IDF at a complex time and knew how to inspire others with his spirit and leadership."
"He built the Israel Defense Forces as a force of quiet professionalism, a army which was self-restrained in the face of political events and self-restrained internally as well," former army chief Amnon Lipkin-Shahak said of Levy on Tuesday.
"He was not only not merely a commander, not merely an army chief, but primarily, he was a human being. As such, he had many colleagues who not only worked with him and respected him, but loved him. I was one of them."