Avigdor Kahalani (Hebrew: אביגדור קהלני; born 16 June 1944) is an Israeli former brigadier general (Tat Aluf) in the Israel Defense Forces and a former politician who served as a member of the Knesset and as Israel's Minister of Internal Security (1996–1999). He is best known for his heroism during the Yom Kippur War (1973), for which he received the Medal of Valor, Israel's highest military decoration.
Early Life
Kahalani was born in Ness Ziona during the Mandate era to Moshe and Sarah Kahalani, Yemenite-Jewish immigrants originally from Sanaa. He studied mechanics at the ORT School in Jaffa. He earned a B.A. in History from Tel Aviv University and an M.A. in Political Science from Haifa University. He also attended the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and graduated from Israel's National Defense College.
Military Career
Kahalani was conscripted into the IDF in 1962 and joined the 7th Brigade of the Armored Corps. He started as a regular soldier, completed a tank commander's course with honors, and then an officer's course with honors at Bahad 1, becoming a career officer. In 1964, he was part of an IDF delegation to West Germany to receive the IDF's first M48 Patton tanks.
Six-Day War (1967): Kahalani commanded a company of Patton tanks from the 79th Battalion. He was awarded the Medal of Distinguished Service for his actions, during which he was badly wounded when his M-48 Patton caught fire.
Yom Kippur War (1973): As a 29-year-old lieutenant colonel, Kahalani commanded the Centurion-equipped 77th Armored Battalion of the 7th Brigade on the Golan Heights. His battalion, along with other elements of the 7th Armored Brigade, engaged in fierce defensive fighting against a vastly superior Syrian mechanized force of more than 50,000 men and 1,200 tanks. The battle became one of the turning points of the war. The valley where it took place, littered with hundreds of destroyed Syrian tanks, was renamed "Emek Ha-Bacha" (Valley of Tears). For his actions, Kahalani was awarded the Medal of Valor.
He retired from the IDF in 1992 with the rank of brigadier general.
Political Career
After leaving the IDF, Kahalani served as Deputy Mayor of Tel Aviv. He was elected to the Knesset as a member of the Labor Party in the 1992 election. During his Knesset term, he broke away from Labor and co-founded The Third Way party with Emanuel Zisman. The new party won four seats in the 1996 elections and joined Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, with Kahalani appointed Minister of Internal Security. In the 1999 elections, the party failed to cross the electoral threshold and Kahalani lost his seat. He later joined Likud but did not return to the Knesset.
From 2007 to 2015, he served as chairman of the Association for Wellbeing of Israeli Soldiers. In 2023, he was chosen to light a torch at the beacon lighting ceremony on Mount Herzl for the 75th anniversary of the State of Israel.
Published Works
- The Heights of Courage: A Tank Leader's War on the Golan (1975)
- A Warrior's Way (1989)
