David "Dado" Elazar (Hebrew: דוד אלעזר; 27 August 1925 – 15 April 1976) was an Israeli senior military officer who was the ninth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), serving in that capacity from 1972 to 1974. He was forced to resign in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War.

David (Dado) Elazar was born in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, to a family of Sephardic heritage. He emigrated to Israel in 1940 with the Youth Aliyah program and settled on kibbutz Ein Shemer. He soon joined the Palmach and fought in many important battles during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, including the Battle of San Simon Monastery in Jerusalem. As a soldier, he advanced through the ranks, eventually serving as commander of the famous HaPortzim Battalion of the Harel Brigade.

Elazar remained in the army after the war, transferring to the armored corps following the 1956 Sinai campaign. He served as deputy to the commander of the corps, Haim Bar Lev, who took over as commander of the armored corps in 1961. He remained in this position until 1964, when he was appointed Chief of the Northern Command, a position he held until 1969. During the Six-Day War of 1967, he was a crucial advocate for the occupation of the strategic Golan Heights, which was then a part of Syria, and he oversaw the capture in just two days.

After the war, Elazar served as the chief operations officer on the general staff. On 1 January 1972, he was appointed Chief of Staff.

The first months of his tenure were spent combating terrorism. On 30 May, the Japanese Red Army killed 25 civilians and wounded 71 more at an attack on Lod Airport, Israel's leading transportation hub (see: Lod Airport Massacre). On 5 September of that year, another group attacked Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. The attack became known as the Munich Massacre. In response to these attacks, Elazar ordered what was, until then, the largest strike against Palestinian bases in Syria and Lebanon. Three Syrian jets were downed, and dozens of fedayeen were killed in a heavy artillery barrage. In Operation Spring of Youth, which took place on the night of 9–10 April 1973, dozens more Palestinians, including several key Palestinian leaders, were assassinated in Beirut by the IDF.

One of the decisions made by Elazar during his tenure was the order to down a Libyan passenger jet that strayed into Israeli airspace and was suspected to be on a terrorist mission when it did not respond. The plane was shot down by the Israeli Air Force over the Sinai Peninsula under direct orders from Elazar, killing over 100 civilians. Only later was it discovered that this was a civilian aircraft that had made a navigational error.

On 27 May 1973, the IDF announced a state of emergency and reserve troops were called up in response to a movement of Egyptian troops. The state of emergency was cancelled when it became clear that this was only an exercise. This event had a major impact on the General Staff, as it led them to believe that the Egyptian forces were not preparing for war, later that year, on Yom Kippur. However, after the war, it became apparent that these frequent maneuvers carried out by the Egyptians were part of an elaborate ruse meant to induce complacency in the Israelis regarding the true intentions of Egyptian troop movements at the time the actual attack took place.

On 13 September, Israel shot down thirteen Syrian fighter jets, which had attempted to down Israeli aircraft.