Medal of Valor (Israel)

{{Infobox military award

|name=עיטור הגבורה

|image=MedalofValor.jpg

|image_size=200px

|caption=Medal of Valor

|presenter={{armed forces|Israel}}

|type=Military decoration

|eligibility=Soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces

|awarded_for="Performing a supreme act of valor while facing the enemy and risking one's life"

|status=Currently awarded

|description=

|established={{start date and age|1970}}

|lastawarded=1975

|total_awarded=

|total_awarded_posthumously=

|total_recipients=40

|individual=

|higher=

|same=

|lower=Medal of Courage

|image2=100px

|caption2=

}}

The Medal of Valor ({{langx|he|עיטור הגבורה}},{{IPA|he|(ʔ)iˈtuʁ (h)agvuˈʁa}} Itur HaGvura) is the highest Israeli military decoration.

The medal was established in 1970 by the Knesset in an act of law as a replacement for the Hero of Israel military decoration that was awarded during the 1947-48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine and the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Awards of the medal were also made for actions prior to 1970, and all recipients of the Hero of Israel automatically received the Medal of Valor as well.

Recipients of the medal receive several privileges such as a tax reduction and invitations to official state ceremonies.

To this day, 40 medals have been awarded: 12 for actions in the War of Independence (Hero of Israel recipients automatically received the Medal of Valor), four for the Sinai War, 12 for the Six-Day War, one for the War of Attrition, eight for the Yom Kippur War, and three others for actions during specific operations.

Design

The medal was designed by Dan Reisinger in the shape of a Star of David.

A sword and olive branch decorate the left side, while the reverse is plain. The medal is attached to a yellow ribbon, a reference to the yellow star that Jews were forced to wear during the Holocaust. Two time recipients of the medal attach a small medal-shaped clasp to the ribbon.

The medal is minted by the Israel Government Coins and Medals Corporation. It is made of 25 gram silver/935 and the clasp is chrome plated.

Recipients

Name	Rank	Conflict	Place of action	Date of action	Reason for receiving medal
class="wikitable sortable nowraplinks"
Yair Racheli{{cite news \|title=Last Minute News Hundreds of Thousands Jam Tel Aviv to Witness Army Day Parade; Weizmann Decorates H... \|agency=Jewish Telegraphic Agency \|date=July 18, 1949 \|url=http://www.jta.org/1949/07/18/archive/last-minute-news-hundreds-of-thousands-jam-tel-aviv-to-witness-army-day-parade-weizmann-decorates-h}}	Private	rowspan="12" \| War of Independence	Near Shefa-'Amr	19 January 1948	Destroyed an enemy position
Emmanuel Landau	Private	Kiryat Motzkin	17 March 1948	Captured an enemy supply truck
Avraham Avigdorov	Private	Kiryat Motzkin	17 March 1948	Destroyed two enemy Bren machine gun positions
Zerubavel Horowitz	Second lieutenant	Road to Jerusalem	27 March 1948	Covered the retreat of his comrades during an enemy attack
Yizhar Armoni	Private	Nabi Yusha	20 April 1948	Covered the retreat of his comrades and the evacuation of wounded soldiers
Emil Brig	Sergeant	Kibbutz Gesher area	14 May 1948	Destroyed a bridge and thus preventing the enemy from advancing
Zvi Zibel	Airman	Ben Shemen	25 June 1948	Delivered supplies to the besieged Ben Shemen while under heavy enemy fire
Ben-Zion Leitner	Private first class	Iraq Suwaydan	19 October 1948	Destroyed enemy bunkers
Ron Feller{{cite news \|title=Israeli War Hero Ron Feller Dies, 84 \|author=Ofer Aderet \|newspaper=Haaretz \|date=February 6, 2016 \|url=http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/israeli-war-hero-ron-feller-dies-84.premium-1.476752}}	Sergeant	Karatiyya	19 July 1948	Destroyed an enemy tank
Yohai Ben-Nun	Captain	Mediterranean Sea	22 October 1948	Sank the Egyptian Navy flagship
Siman-Tov Ganeh	Private	Iraq Suwaydan	19 November 1948	Covered the retreat of his comrades
Arieh Atzmoni	Master sergeant	Rafah	4 November 1948	Rescued a cannon from enemy hands
Yaakov Mizrachi{{cite news \|title=Memorial Day The Fallen Striker \|author=Uzi Dann \|newspaper=Haaretz \|date=April 19, 2010 \|url=http://www.haaretz.com/memorial-day-the-fallen-striker-1.284512}}	Private	rowspan="2" \| Reprisal operations	Kuntila	28 October 1955	Displayed great courage in charging the enemy
Pinchas "Aloush" Noy	Lieutenant	Qalqilyah	10 October 1956	Charged enemy positions and killed nine enemy soldiers
Uzi Bar-Zur	Corporal	rowspan="4" \| Sinai War	Sinai	26 October-5 November 1956	Rescued wounded soldiers while under fire
Dan Ziv{{cite book \|last=Henkin \|first=Yagil \|title=The 1956 Suez War and the New World Order in the Middle East: Exodus in Reverse \|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yBydCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA162 \|accessdate=February 5, 2016 \|date=October 22, 2015 \|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield \|isbn=978-0-7391-8721-0 \|page=162}}{{cite book \|last=Pressfield \|first=Steven \|authorlink=Steven Pressfield \|title=The Lion's Gate: On the Front Lines of the Six Day War \|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=amN-AgAAQBAJ&pg=PT227 \|accessdate=February 5, 2016 \|date=May 6, 2014 \|publisher=Penguin Publishing Group \|isbn=978-0-698-16397-3 \|page=227}}	Second lieutenant	Sinai	1 November 1956	Rescued wounded soldiers while under fire
Yehuda Ken-Dror	Private	Sinai	1 November 1956	Located enemy positions while under heavy enemy fire
Shlomo Nitzani{{cite news \|title=IDF chief of staff lays flag on grave of fallen soldier \|newspaper=Jerusalem Post \|date=April 10, 2013 \|url=http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/IDF-Chief-of-Staff-lays-flag-on-grave-of-fallen-soldier-309376}}{{cite book \|last=Henkin \|first=Yagil \|title=The 1956 Suez War and the New World Order in the Middle East: Exodus in Reverse \|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yBydCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA163 \|accessdate=February 5, 2016 \|date=October 22, 2015 \|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield \|isbn=978-0-7391-8721-0 \|page=163}}	Sergeant	Sinai	26 October-5 November 1956	Rescued wounded soldiers and destroyed enemy positions while under heavy enemy fire
Zvi Ofer{{cite news \|url=http://www.haaretz.com/color-red-white-house-green-line-1.268231 \|title=Color Red, White House, Green Line \|author=Amir Oren \|newspaper=Haaretz \|date=15 January 2009}}	Major	Reprisal operations	Nukaiv	16 March 1962	Charged enemy positions
Moshe Drimmer{{cite book \|last=Dunstan \|first=Simon \|title=The Six Day War 1967: Jordan and Syria\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uk3HcrMpTW8C&pg=PA83 \|accessdate=February 5, 2016 \|year=2009 \|publisher=Osprey Publishing \|isbn=978-1-84603-364-3 \|page=83}}	Private	rowspan="12" \| Six-Day War	Golan Heights	9 June 1967	Covered the retreat of his comrades
Daniel Wordon	Captain	El-Arish	7 June 1967	Covered the rescue of wounded soldiers
Uri Weisler	Lieutenant	Rafah	5 June 1967	Continued to engage the enemy while injured
Shaul Vardi{{cite book \|last1=Dunstan \|first1=Simon \|last2=Dennis \|first2=Peter \|title=The Six Day War 1967: Jordan and Syria\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g6mCDBJs-M8C&pg=PA78 \|accessdate=February 5, 2016 \|date=February 20, 2013 \|publisher=Osprey Publishing \|isbn=978-1-4728-0197-5 \|page=78}}	Sergeant	Golan Heights	9 June 1967	Continued to engage the enemy while injured
Moshe Tal	Lieutenant	Gaza Strip	5 June 1967	Commanded a force of half-tracks
Yosef Lapper	Sergeant	Khan Younis	5 June 1967	Fought for eight hours alone with his tank
Eitan Neveh{{cite book \|last1=Dunstan \|first1=Simon \|last2=Dennis \|first2=Peter \|title=The Six Day War 1967: Jordan and Syria\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g6mCDBJs-M8C&pg=PA55 \|accessdate=February 5, 2016 \|date=February 20, 2013 \|publisher=Osprey Publishing \|isbn=978-1-4728-0197-5 \|page=55}}	Private	Jerusalem	6 June 1967	Covered his forces in the Battle of the Ammunition Hill
Beni Inbar	Staff sergeant	Rafah	5 June 1967	Destroyed eight tanks
Mordechai Friedman	Lieutenant	Jerusalem	6 June 1967	Destroyed an enemy position
Gad Refen{{cite news \|url=http://www.haaretz.com/misc/iphone-article/.premium-1.638952 \|title=Desperate journey, stupid act: Why Israelis voters should see right through Netanyahu \|author=Amir Oren \|newspaper=Haaretz \|date=January 26, 2015}}	Lieutenant	West Bank	6 June 1967	Commanded the conquest of an enemy position near Jenin
David Shirazi{{cite book \|last=Rashba \|first=Gary L. \|title=Holy Wars: 3,000 Years of Battles in the Holy Land \|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QjspnFiOJpUC&pg=PA215 \|accessdate=February 6, 2016 \|date=June 2011 \|publisher=Casemate Publishers \|isbn=978-1-61200-019-0 \|page=215}}	Private	Golan Heights	9 June 1967	Charged an enemy position
Natanel Horovitz	Lieutenant	Golan Heights	9 June 1967	Charged an enemy position
Ami Ayalon	Lieutenant	War of Attrition	Green Island	19 July 1969	Heroic action during Operation Bulmus 6
Oded Amir	Captain	rowspan="8" \| Yom Kippur War	Port Said	6–24 October 1973	Commanded a force which damaged three enemy ships in Port Said harbour
Gideon Giladi	Major	Egypt	15 October 1973	Commanded an armour battle
Zvika Greengold	Captain	Golan Heights	6 October 1973	Delayed an enemy armour column
Moshe Levy{{cite web \|url=https://www.idfblog.com/blog/2013/10/23/idf-war-hero-soldier-lost-arm-risked-life-strike-enemy/ \|title=IDF War Hero: The Soldier Who Lost His Arm and Risked His Life to Strike the Enemy \|date=October 23, 2013 \|publisher=Israel Defense Force official blog (idfblog.com)}}	Sergeant	Sinai	15 October 1973	Destroyed an enemy position
Yuval Neria{{cite news \|url=http://www.haaretz.com/no-end-to-this-bitter-battle-1.28477 \|title=No End to This Bitter Battle \|author=Avihai Becker \|newspaper=Haaretz \|date=November 13, 2002}}	Captain	Sinai	6–18 October 1973	Excellent conduct during numerous armoured battles
Shlomo Arman	Second lieutenant	Sinai	6–8 October 1973	Excellent conduct during numerous armoured battles
Asa Kadmoni	Major	Sinai	18 October 1973	Fought a large enemy force while surrounded
Avigdor Kahalani	Lieutenant colonel	Golan Heights	9 October 1973	Excellent conduct during numerous armoured battles

References

John D. Clarke, Gallantry Medals & Awards of the World, p. 108

Category:Military awards and decorations of Israel

Category:Awards established in 1970

Category:1970 establishments in Israel