Yosef was born on December 26, 1923 in Kovno, Lithuania, to Sarah and Nahum. The family made aliyah in 1933 and settled in Tel Aviv. Yosef studied in Tel Aviv’s Montefiore School. He joined HaNoar HaZioni and the nationalist cells. In 1941, he joined Lehi and underwent training. In 1942, he participated in the plot to blow up the CID’s Wilkin. Afterwards, he planned a similar operation for Morton, who had killed Yair. The Hagana captured him, interrogating him and handing him over to the CID. He was sent to Mizra for administrative detention. After the escape by Yitzhak Shamir and Eliyahu Giladi, the British transferred all of the prisoners to Latrun.

After twenty Lehi members escaped from Latrun through a tunnel dug from under one of the shacks to beyond the fence, the British exiled 251 IZL and Lehi members to Africa on 19 October 1944, Yosef among them. They were first held in Sembel (near Asmara, Eritrea), then Carthago (Sudan), then back to Eritrea, and finally to Gilgil (Kenya). On 14 May 1947, Yosef was transferred back to the Land of Israel, to Latrun, where he was held until he was freed the next month, after five years of detention in Israel and abroad.

On 17 May 1948, he enlisted in the IDF and participated in the Battle of Latrun. He was instructor of a squad commanders’ course and was at kilometer 101 on the Arava Highway in 1950. He served in the 7^th Brigade, in Battalions 71 and 79, reaching the rank of first lieutenant. He commanded Mortar Platoon 81. From 1952 to 1953, he was an instructor at the Engineering Corps training base. The IDF sent him to study at Technion from 1956 to 1958, when he received his degree in engineering. From 1956 to 1959, he worked in construction for the command staff of the Air Force. From 1959 to 1967, he fulfilled this role in the north, rising to the rank of major. The Air Force sent him abroad in 1965, the IDF in 1971. In 1968, he completed a senior command course, serving in construction until, in 1973, he completed his service with the rank of colonel. From 1973 until 1981, he was the deputy chief of the department of development and maintenance at the Technion, until he retired in 1982.

In 1949, Yosef married Bella Asanin, and they had three sons: Meidad, Amir and Anat, as well as numerous grandchildren.

Bella passed away in 1986, and he married Yaffa Landau.