Yosef Aluf Avidar (7 May 1906 – 13 September 1995) was an Israeli statesman, Haganah commander, author and ambassador to Argentina and the Soviet Union.^[1]

Avidar was born on 7 May 1906 as Yosef Rochel^[2] in Kremenets in the Russian Empire and in what is now modern-day Ukraine. His father was Joshua Rochel; his mother, Shprinza.^[3] Avidar was a peddler during his time in Ukraine.^[4]

In 1929 Avidar immigrated to Mandatory Palestine.^[4]

Avidar became a senior commander in a Jewish paramilitary organization called the Haganah.^[5] Placed in control of the supply programs,^[4] he was responsible for the idea and of constructing an underground ammunition factory called the Ayalon Institute, which was a major supplier of arms to the Haganah.^[2][6]

In 1948, after the creation of the Israel Defense Forces, he changed his name from Rochel to Avidar based on an acronym of his two daughters' names.^[7] Avidar was the Israeli quartermaster during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and later served as the Israel Defense Forces' deputy chief of staff.^[8] After the war, he served as ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1955 to 1958 and as ambassador to Argentina from 1961 to 1965.^[9]

Avidar died on 13 September 1995 at the age of 89 from a lung infection.^[4]

Avidar lost his right hand when he was learning how to use grenades, and was given the nickname "the amputee".^[2] He was sent to Vienna for treatment, where he met the future Israeli children's book author and later wife Yemima Avidar-Tchernovitz,^[2] who at the time was studying at the University of Vienna.^[7]

He received a Doctor of Philosophy in Russian studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.^[9]

• BaDerekh l'Tsahal, 1971^[9]
• Avidar, Yosef (1985). The party and the army in the Soviet Union. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 978-0-271-00393-1. OCLC 11573730.