David Elazar [Dado] was one of the generation of fighters in the pre-State Palmach who went on to become a general in the IDF. During the Six Day War he was head of the Northern Command which captured the Golan Heights - leading to the cease-fire with Syria and the end of the war. He was appointed Chief of Staff in 1972.
At the beginning of the Yom Kippur War, Elazar recommended complete mobilization of the IDF, but the government opted for a call-up of the reserves, coupled with an appeal for international pressure against the Arab combatants. In 1974, in the aftermath of the war, the Agranat Commission recommended that he be dismissed as Chief of Staff, while absolving Defense Minister Moshe Dayan and Prime Minister Golda Meir of responsibility. He resigned his position and the government resigned.

Gen. David Elazar died in 1976.