Zvi Bar

Biography

Bar was born in Kfar Yona during the Mandate era to parents of Kurdish Jewish origin. His father changed the family name from Barazani to Bar at the recommendation of David Ben-Gurion. Bar studied at the Tcherniovsky high school in Netanya. In 1954, Bar joined the Israel Defense Forces as a combat soldier in the Givati Brigade, and became an officer. Following the Suez Crisis, he joined the Paratroopers Brigade. After Yoav Shaham, the commander o Battalion 202 of the Paratroopers Brigade was killed in action during the Samu Incident in 1966, Bar was appointed to replace him.

Bar fought as the commander of Paratrooper Battalion 202 during the Six-Day War, participating in combat operations in Gaza City. In 1968, he participated in the Battle of Karameh. He later served as the deputy commander of the 275th brigade and as commander of the ID school of officer training. In October 1973, one day before the Yom Kippur War broke out, he was appointed commander of the 820th Brigade, which was positioned on the Golan Heights. After commanding that brigade through the war. He later testified before the Agranat Commission, an Israeli government investigation of failures that occurred during that war. He was then transferred to the Armored Corps and commanded the 166th Brigade, which was based in northern Israel.

Bar attended staff college in Israel and France, and completed a BA in political science from Bar-Ilan University in 1976. After completing his degree, he joined the Israel Police, and was appointed deputy commander of the Border Police. In January 1977, he was promoted to the rank of Major. In 1983 he was appointed head of the police operations department and served in this position until 1985.

Political career

Bar was elected mayor of Ramat Gan in 1989. He came to the Israeli public's attention, and garnered approval and support, because of his leadership and morale-building when Ramat Gan was subjected to Iraqi Scud missiles during the Desert Storm operation. Bar was re-elected as in four consecutive elections – in 1993, 1998, 2003, and 2008.

Corruption case

In 2004, Bar was questioned by police on allegations that he and mayor of neighboring Tel Aviv Ron Huldai engaged in corruption. In April 2011 the Ministry of Justice decided to indict Bar, along with five other real estate developers, for bribery and money laundering. In June 2015, Bar was sentenced to 5.5 years in prison. After an appeal of the verdict, his sentence was reduced to three years by the Israeli Supreme Court. Bar began serving his sentence at Maasiyahu Prison on February 1, 2017.