Dov Yermiya, Israeli army officer and author, Died at 101

Dov Yermiya was born in 1914 and died on January 30, 2016.

He was a former Israeli Defence Forces lieutenant-colonel.

Dov was the officer in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.

He had directed the assault that ended in the conquest of Saffuriyah, and his memory of the event confirms the version of events given by the Palestinians who fled.

Following the 1982 Lebanon War, he was expelled from his unit for voicing public criticism of the IDF’s treatment of civilians.

Dov kept a diary account of the artillery and aerial assault on the refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh, he wrote that the quantity of bombs used to bomb the area reminded him of World War 2.

In the next year, he became famous for his account of that period in his book My War Diary: Lebanon June 5 to July 1, 1982.

Known to be Published in defiance of censorship laws, it provoked, according to the publishers, ‘widespread controversy when it was first published in Israel’, but was ignored by western media.

Nonetheless, The book criticized Israeli actions during the war, and was first published in Hebrew with the title “Yoman Hamilchama Sheli”.

The book was eventually translated to English and published by South End Press.

In 1983, Dov Yermiya was the recipient of a Human Rights Award from the Association for Civil Rights for his work in relieving the suffering of Lebanese civilians during hostilities.

The Israeli army retired him from duty.

Dov Yermiya passed away on 101 yrs old.