Harold Simon

Harold “Smoky” Simon is a South African pilot who helped in the creation of the Israeli Air Force. Born in Orange Free State to a father from Lithuania and a mother from England, he was raised in South Africa. He studied accounting and commerce at the University of Witwatersrand. He volunteered in 1941 to join the South African Air Force and was a navigator and bombardier.

He returned to Johannesburg after the war, worked as an accountant and married Myra Weinberg. Three weeks after their wedding, in May 1948, they moved to Israel to assist with the War of Independence and both joined the Israel Air Force. Simon was recruited to be a navigator and bombardier. In June 1948 he became the IAF’s chief of operations and participated, in total, in 24 reconnaissance and bombing missions. He stayed in Israel after the war and was discharged from the IAF in 1950 as a major.

In 1962 Simon started the Simon and Wiesel Insurance Agency which specialized in life insurance. He sold the portfolios to Migdal insurance agency in 2000. He has been Chairman of World Machal since 1968 and was a founding member of the Menachem Begin Heritage Foundation in Jerusalem. He received the TELFED 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award. His involvement in the founding of the State of Israel was featured in the movie Above and Beyond. In 2019, he was honored with the Sylvan Adams Bonei Zion Prize.