Research Department of Military Intelligence(MI) in 1967–1971.
He was then promoted to lieutenant colonel and until the 1973 Yo m
Kippur Warheaded Branch 2(the Jordan desk). In this capacity,
Knizer was invited to attend a meeting between King Hussein of Jor-
dan and Israeli prime minister Golda Meir on 25 September 1973.
Knizer was instructed to treat the meeting with Hussein and its con-
tents as highly classified material. However, because of the real dan-
ger that Syria and Egypt might go to war against Israel, late at night
after the meeting, Knizer called the head of Branch 5(the Syria,
Lebanon, and Iraq desk), Lieutenant Colonel Aviezer (Avik) Ya’ari,
and advised him to put the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Northern
Command on alert. Ya’ari indeed called the intelligence officer of
Northern Command, Lieutenant Colonel Hagai Mann, who alerted the
head of Northern Command, Major General Yitzhak Hofi.
When news of this breach of instructions reached Brigadier Gen-
eral Aryeh Shalev, the assistant director of MI for research, he sum-
moned Knizer and Ya’ari. Shalev rebuked Knizer for ignoring orders
not to speak of Hussein’s meeting with Meir to anyone. Ya’ari was
taken to task for contacting Northern Command without authoriza-
tion from his superiors.
The Israeli establishment did not take King Hussein’s warning
very seriously, mainly due to the prevailing Conceptthat Egypt was
unprepared for war and Syria would not launch a war without Egypt.
The question is whether Knizer read Hussein’s warning differently
from and better than his superiors, or the warning was not substantial
and Knizer merely took it too seriously. The Agranat Commission
on Israel’s lack of military preparedness for the 1973 war praised
Ya’ari for his action of alerting those for whom Hussein’s warning
might be relevant. Knizer was not summoned to testify before the
commission; this was a positive sign, as the commission called all
those it deemed responsible for the mehdaland recommended their
dismissal from their positions.
On 8 October 1973, during the war, Knizer replaced Lieutenant
Colonel Yonah Bendmanas head of the Egyptian desk (Branch 6),
who was removed from office due to his failure to assess correctly
the possibility of war. After the war Knizer returned to head Branch
2, and later he was assigned to other missions in the MI research sec-
tion. Knizer retired from the IDF in 1984 as a colonel. In civilian life,152 • KNIZER, ZUSIA06-102 (03) H-P.qxd 3/24/06 7:24 AM Page 152