Yosef was born in 1915 in Brisk, Poland to Dina and Shlomo who was one of the
adherents of Jabotinsky. At the age of 14 Yosef joined Beitar on the day that the Beitar cell
was established in his town, the same cell that Menachem Begin was in.

In 1935 aged 20 he made aliya as a tourist and decided to remain in the country. On his
arrival he joined the Haganah.
In 1940 he volunteered to join the British Army in order to fight Nazi Germany. He
served in Egypt, in the Arabian Desert, in Libya, Tobruk and Bengazi. He took part in the
battles against Rommel. Because of a serious accident he was discharged in 1944. After he
recovered he began working as a taxi driver and contacted Lehi. He used his taxicab that
linked the Beit Hashoeva and Hashmonaim stations to perform several important duties, such
as: transporting weapons and explosives, and transporting fighters and publications.
On numerous occasions he served as the driver for Yitzhak Shamir and Nathan Yelin-
Mor, members of the Lehi Center. He was loyal and kept the numerous members’ addresses
a closed secret.
In August 1944 he took part in the Lehi attempt to assassinate the High Commissioner
MacMichael in Jerusalem. That same year he married Adela Goldberg. They have two
children, Dina and Shlomo, and five grandchildren.
During the War of Independence he served in the IDF’s 71 st Battalion of the 7 th Brigade
and took part in the battles of Latrun and in the Galilee as transport sergeant.
After his discharge he worked in commerce.