Yosef was born on 11.11.33 in Jerusalem. His father was a building contractor, his mother a homemaker raising six children. Yosef attended eight grades of elementary school at Lamelle. Afterwards, he continued in night school. He was a member of HaNoar HaOved.

His friend persuaded him to join Lehi in 1946 — still before he became a bar mitzvah! Nevertheless, he was tall and strong for his age, and he looked adult enough to pass himself off as a sixteen-year-old. (He was afraid he would be rejected otherwise.)

He put up posters and trained with light firearms and with explosives. One time, while putting up posters on Nevi’im Street, he and his friends were surprised by the British police. They opened fire on them, and two bullets hit Yosef in the right leg. He was arrested and hospitalized under guard. Before he was done recuperating, he was transferred to Jerusalem Central Prison at the Russian Compound, where he was severely tortured, losing two teeth. Despite his youth, he was kept in prison for seven months, but upon his release, he went right back to Lehi.

Once again, he lied about his age to get into the IDF when the State was established. He was assigned to the infantry and reached the rank of master sergeant.

After his demobilization, he started working in construction, becoming an independent contractor. He would go on to train apprentices, under the auspices of the Ministry of Labor, in various fields of construction.

In 1973, he married Miriam Sabagi, and they have three children: Dan, Atalia and Eitan.

Yosef has since retired and lives in Jerusalem.