{"id":616098,"date":"2026-09-14T20:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T20:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/616098\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T20:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T20:12:12","slug":"yohanan-elishov-last-survivor-of-israels-iconic-ink-flag-raising-in-eilat-dies-at","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/616098\/","title":{"rendered":"Yohanan Elishov, last survivor of Israel\u2019s iconic Ink Flag raising in Eilat, dies at"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yohanan Elishov, a Palmach fighter and one of the last surviving combatants of Israel\u2019s 1948 generation<\/a>, died Monday at the age of 95.<\/p>\n

Elishov was the last living person who had been present at the historic raising of the Ink Flag following the capture of Eilat during the War of Independence, an image that became one of the most recognizable symbols of Israel\u2019s founding.<\/p>\n

\"\u05d4\u05e0\u05e4\u05ea<\/a>\"\u05d4\u05e0\u05e4\u05ea<\/p>\n

Ink Flag raising in Eilat <\/p>\n

(Photo: GPO)<\/p>\n

Born in Petah Tikva, Elishov was among the prominent Palmach fighters who took part in the establishment of the state. After enlisting in late 1947, he trained under the command of Rafael Eitan and was later sent to Jerusalem to reinforce the Harel Brigade, where he served as the personal runner of commander Haim Poznansky, known as \u201cPoza,\u201d in the 4th Battalion.<\/p>\n

During the Battle of Nabi Samuel, Elishov helped evacuate wounded soldiers and equipment. He later took part in key battles along the road to Jerusalem, including the capture of Beit Mahsir and the attempt to break into the Old City.<\/p>\n

During the first ceasefire, he was transferred to the southern front and fought in major operations in the Negev and Sinai. He was present at the historic raising of the Ink Flag in Eilat and later served as Yigal Allon\u2019s driver.<\/p>\n

Elishov went on to serve for many years in the reserves with the Artillery Corps, taking part in every Israeli war from the 1956 Sinai Campaign through the First Lebanon War.<\/p>\n

In civilian life, he spent decades helping build the country and develop its national infrastructure. For years, he worked as a heavy-vehicle driver for the Solel Boneh construction company and took an active role in paving roads and building development projects in southern Israel, the Negev, the Dead Sea area and the Makhteshim region. He later worked as a purchasing agent in the company\u2019s industrial division.<\/p>\n

Even after retiring, Elishov continued volunteering for years with the Israel Diabetes Association.<\/p>\n

His son Yoav recalled that his father\u2019s unusual path began long before his military service.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father started out as someone who was severely dyslexic,\u201d he told Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth. \u201cHe didn\u2019t want to study, and he started working in a garage at age 13. At 16, he joined the Palmach, and that\u2019s where his very special journey began.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen my father raised the Ink Flag, he didn\u2019t understand the magnitude of the event,\u201d Yoav said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t have a flag, so their clerk took a sheet and drew on it. Only later did it become a historic icon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another son, Yuval, described Elishov as a devoted family man whose values remained rooted in the ideals of the generation in which he grew up.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father wasn\u2019t an educated man,\u201d he said. \u201cHe said he didn\u2019t want to learn English and that first the English should learn Hebrew. He was a wonderful father, a family man, and he was involved in our lives and pushed us toward values of love of the country. Until a very old age, we didn\u2019t travel abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople like my father were people with straightforward values,\u201d Yuval added. \u201cThey had simplicity, wisdom and modesty. Even after the injuries he suffered from a mine, he didn\u2019t rush to seek the disability benefits he might have been entitled to. He always said that anyone who is healthy should go serve the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Yuval, his father remained lucid until his final day and continued to closely follow developments in Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cYears ago, he said they were lying to us and that we didn\u2019t have enough soldiers in the army,\u201d he said. \u201cHe said it a decade ago, and I remember we got annoyed with him. After October 7, we told him he had been right. He saw what was coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was one of the people who built the country, and from his perspective they were destroying the country he had built when accusations were directed at things he saw as part of the consensus, like the courts, the army and the Mossad,\u201d Yuval said. \u201cHe was very angry about that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yohanan Elishov, a Palmach fighter and one of the last surviving combatants of Israel\u2019s 1948 generation, died Monday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":616099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-616098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}