Israel was forged in battle. As the Jewish nation celebrated its 50th anniversary, it honored the men and women who gave it life—dreamers, visionaries, political leaders, pioneers. Yet above all, the State of Israel owes its very existence and survival to its fighters, those who risked, and often sacrificed, their lives for the rebirth of the nation. This book, built on the testimony of Israel’s most renowned political, military, and cultural figures, is a tribute to these lionhearts. In every generation, on every battlefield that shaped modern Israel, heroes have risen—individuals who carried the weight of the nation on their shoulders without seeking gratitude, wealth, or glory. They asked nothing for themselves, giving everything for the people. It is dedicated not only to the legendary figures who fell in combat or served in Israel’s secret fronts, but also to the spirit of ordinary men and women whose courage and selflessness embody the soul of the nation.
Without such qualities of sacrifice and shared humanity, no people can endure. Four Israeli presidents, three prime ministers, and ten cabinet ministers, alongside Knesset members, generals, writers, scholars, and artists, joined together to tell the saga of Israel’s lionhearts celebrated in these pages. Among them: Sarah Aharonson, the daring spy who defied Ottoman rule during World War I. Meir Har-Zion, the fearless paratrooper who shaped Israel’s elite fighters in the early years of independence.
Eli Cohen, the audacious secret agent executed in Syria. Colonel Yoni Netanyahu, fallen commander of the legendary Entebbe rescue. And dozens more—sons and daughters of Israel—who placed freedom above fear. These stories read like a modern echo of King David’s Mighty Men in the Old Testament—LIONHEARTS, then and now.