Yosef was born in Poland on November 17,1917. He emigrated illegally from the town of Dobra in 1933. His parents and family, who’d remained in Poland, perished in the Holocaust.

In Poland he was a member of Beitar. On July 9,1940 he enlisted in the British Air Force, in Egypt. During his time in the military he was involved in weapons acquisition, sabotage material and ammunition, which he transferred  to the underground organisations in Israel. He campaigned in the midst of the Egypt’s Jewish community, and the Jewish soldiers who were serving in the British Army, to draw them nearer to the ideas of the Jewish underground which was operating in Israel.

From the end of 1943 he headed and commanded Lehi’s cell in Egypt, under his nom-de-guerre Nechemya. He was among the co-ordinators of the assassination of Lord Moyne, British Mid-East Colonies minister, who was one of the main objectors to Holocaust survivors immigrating to Israel. Moyne was the senior-most foreign official in the Middle East.

On July 27,1945,  Yosef was arrested by the British authorities and  exiled to Sambal  Eritrea. On March 12,1947 he and the other Eritrean exiles were transferred to Gilgil Kenya. Following the establishment of the State he returned to Israel in the last convoy of exiles, on July 12,1948.

In 1950 he married Pnina. The family lived most of their years in the Sela neighbourhood of Tel-Aviv. He was one of  the founders of the National Healthcare Organisation (Kupat Holim Leumit), served as the secretary of the active committee of the National Workers Association in Israel where he specialised in Labor Laws. He was appointed to the Commission which fought against  Black Market money dealers in the 1950s.

His son Avi is a LtCol in the IDF, settled at Ein Zivan on the Golan Heights, and owns a private investigations office. Son Zvika, Captain in the IDF, works for the Ministry of Finance. Daughter Yona is a Social Worker in the “Mish’an” chain. Yosef had six grandchildren.

He passed away on January 1,1980.