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Ramatkal
The Chief of the General Staff, also known as the Commander-in-Chief of the Israel Defense Forces (, abbreviated ''Ramatkal''—), is the supreme commander and head of the Israel Defense Forces. The current Chief of the General Staff is Aviv Kochavi. At any given time, the Chief of the General Staff is the only active officer holding the IDF's highest rank, ''rav aluf'' (), which is usually translated into English as lieutenant general, a three-star rank. The only exception to this rule occurred during the Yom Kippur War, when former Chief of the General Staff Haim Bar-Lev, who was a cabinet member at the outbreak of and during the war, was brought out of retirement and installed as chief of Southern Command. For a brief period, he and Chief of the General Staff David Elazar were both in active service with the rank of ''rav aluf''. History The role of the Chief of the General Staff began with the Haganah organization, where it was named after the head of the general staff of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rafael Eitan
Rafael "Raful" Eitan ( he, רפאל "רפול" איתן, born 11 January 1929 – 23 November 2004) was an Israeli general, former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (Ramatkal) and later a politician, a Knesset member, and government minister. Early life Rafael Eitan was born as Rafael Kaminsky in the moshav of Tel Adashim near Nazareth in 1929, to Eliyahu and Miriam Eitan, Ukrainian Jewish immigrants to Palestine. His father was one of the founders of the Jewish defense organization Hashomer. Rafael was raised in the community of Tel Adashim. Zvi Nishri (Orloff), a pioneer in modern physical education in Israel, was his uncle. Late in life he reportedly said that he was descended from a Subbotnik family that had served as guards to the tsar.Lawrence Joffe’ Lieut-Gen Rafael Eitan,’The Guardian 25 November 2004 'Eitan revealed that his mother was a member of the Christian Subotnik sect, and a descendant of the Russian tsar's bodyguards. Thus the Jewish ultranation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haim Laskov
Haim Laskov ( he, חיים לסקוב; born 1919, Barysaw, Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic – 8 December 1982) was an Israeli public figure and the fifth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. Biography Haim Laskov was born in Barysaw in the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (present-day Belarus). He immigrated to Palestine with his family in 1925. The family settled in Haifa, where they lived in dire poverty. Laskov joined the Haganah as a teenager, and served in various units, including Orde Wingate's Special Night Squads. He also served as a personal messenger for Yaakov Dori, who would later become the first Chief of Staff. In 1940, Laskov joined the British Army so that he could participate in World War II. He served in various capacities, and was a commander of the Jewish Brigade which saw action on the Italian front, eventually reaching the rank of major. After the war, he remained in Europe to participate in the Aliyah Bet illegal immigration effort t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yigael Yadin
Yigael Yadin ( he, יִגָּאֵל יָדִין ) (20 March 1917 – 28 June 1984) was an Israeli archeologist, soldier and politician. He was the second Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces and Deputy Prime Minister from 1977 to 1981. Biography Yigael Sukenik (later Yadin) was born in Ottoman Palestine to archaeologist Eleazar Sukenik and his wife Hasya Sukenik-Feinsold, a teacher and women's rights activist. Military career He joined the Haganah at age 15, and served in a variety of different capacities. In 1946, he left the Haganah following an argument with its commander Yitzhak Sadeh over the inclusion of a machine gun as part of standard squad equipment. In 1948, shortly before the State of Israel declared its independence, Yadin, interrupted his university studies to return to active service. He served as Israel's Head of Operations during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and was responsible for many of the key decisions made during the course of that war. In Apri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2006 Lebanon War
The 2006 Lebanon War, also called the 2006 Israel–Hezbollah War and known in Lebanon as the July War ( ar, حرب تموز, ''Ḥarb Tammūz'') and in Israel as the Second Lebanon War ( he, מלחמת לבנון השנייה, ''Milhemet Levanon HaShniya''), was a 34-day war, military conflict in Lebanon, Northern Israel and the Golan Heights. The principal parties were Hezbollah paramilitary forces and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The conflict started on 12 July 2006, and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect in the morning on 14 August 2006, though it formally ended on 8 September 2006 when Israel lifted its naval blockade of Lebanon. Due to unprecedented Iranian military support to Hezbollah before and during the war, some consider it the first round of the Iran–Israel proxy conflict, rather than a continuation of the Arab–Israeli conflict. The conflict was precipitated by the 2006 Hezbollah cross-border raid. On 12 July 2006, Hezbolla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Elazar
David "Dado" Elazar ( he, דוד אלעזר; 27 August 1925 – 15 April 1976) 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. Early life David (Dado) Elazar was born in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, to a family of Sephardic heritage. He emigrated to Palestine 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, taking over as commander of the armored corps in 1961. He remained in this p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mordechai Maklef
Mordechai (Motke) Maklef (or Makleff) ( he, מרדכי (מותקה) מקלף; 1920–1978) was the third Ramatkal, Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and later, director-general of many important public companies in the Economy of Israel, Israeli economy. Early life Makleff was born in the village of Motza, near Jerusalem in the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate of Palestine in 1920. His parents were among the founders of this first modern village outside Jerusalem, located along the Highway 1 (Israel), road to Jaffa. During the 1929 Palestine riots, inhabitants of the neighbouring Arab village of Qalunya attacked the Makleff home, which was located along the perimeter of Motza, and killed the entire family, except the young Mordechai, who managed to escape the massacre by jumping from a second story window. The murderers included a shepherd employed by the family and the local policeman, who was the only person in the area to own a gun. The murder shocked the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yaakov Dori
Yaakov Dori (; October 8, 1899 – January 22, 1973), born Yaakov Dostrovsky, was the first Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). He was also the President of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. Biography Yaakov Dostrovsky (later Dori) was born in Odessa in present-day Ukraine (then part of the Russian Empire) to Tzvi and Myriam Dostrovsky. The family immigrated to Ottoman Palestine following the anti-Jewish pogrom in Odessa in 1905. Upon completing high school at the Hebrew Reali School in Haifa, he enlisted in the Jewish Legion of the British Army during World War I. Following the war he studied engineering at the University of Ghent. His son, Yerachmiel Dori, served as commander of the IDF's Engineering Corps. His daughter, Etana Padan, is a biochemist and a professor of microbial ecology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His youngest son, Zvi Dori, was a Chemistry Professor at the Technion and the founder of the first Israeli Science Museum ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rav Aluf
''Aluf'' ( he, אלוף, lit=champion or "First\leader of a group" in Biblical Hebrew; ) is a senior military rank in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) for officers who in other countries would have the rank of general, air marshal, or admiral. In addition to the ''aluf'' rank, four other ranks are derivatives of the word, together, constituting the five highest ranks in the IDF. Aside from being a military rank, "Aluf" is also used in a civilian context, particularly in sports, meaning "champion". Etymology The term ''aluf'' comes from the Bible ( ''’allūp̄''): the Edomites used it as a rank of nobility, while the later books of the Tanakh use it to describe Israelite captains as well, e.g. Zachariah 9:7, 12:5-6, and later, for example Psalms 55:13, where it is used as a general term for teacher. It comes from a Semitic root meaning "thousand", making an ''’allūp̄'' the one who commands a thousand people. Strong however connects the word used to describe the Dukes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dan Halutz
Dan Halutz ( he, דן חלוץ, ; born August 7, 1948) is an Israeli Air Force lieutenant general and former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces and commander of the Israeli Air Force. Halutz served as chief of staff in 2005–2007. Biography Halutz was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, and grew up on moshav Hagor. His parents are both Mizrahi Jewish, and they were born in Iran and in Iraq. Halutz holds a degree in economics from Tel Aviv University, and a Harvard Business School degree. He is chairman of the Etgarim special-needs charity. Military career Halutz joined the Israeli Air Force (IAF) in 1966 and graduated from combat flight school in 1968. In 1969, he joined the first F-4 Phantom squadron of the IAF. During the War of Attrition, Halutz carried out 40 operational flights. After the war, he left the IDF in order to study, but returned to active duty when the Yom Kippur War started, in 1973. During the war, Halutz flew over 43 operational flights, shooting down t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon (; ; ; also known by his diminutive Arik, , born Ariel Scheinermann, ; 26 February 1928 – 11 January 2014) was an Israeli general and politician who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Israel from March 2001 until April 2006. Sharon was a commander in the Israeli Army from its creation in 1948. As a soldier and then an officer, he participated prominently in the 1948 Palestine war, becoming a platoon commander in the Alexandroni Brigade and taking part in many battles, including Operation Bin Nun Alef. He was an instrumental figure in the creation of Unit 101 and the reprisal operations, as well as in the 1956 Suez Crisis, the Six-Day War of 1967, the War of Attrition, and the Yom-Kippur War of 1973. Yitzhak Rabin called Sharon "the greatest field commander in our history"."Israel's Man of War", Michael Kramer, ''New York'', pages 19–24, 9 August 1982: "the "greatest field commander in our history," says Yitzak Rabin" Upon retirement from the military, Shar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria. The majority of combat between the two sides took place in the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights—both of which were occupied by Israel in 1967—with some fighting in African Egypt and northern Israel. Egypt's initial objective in the war was to seize a foothold on the eastern bank of the Suez Canal and subsequently leverage these gains to negotiate the return of the rest of the Israeli-occupied Sinai Peninsula. The war began on October 6, 1973, when the Arab coalition jointly launched a surprise attack against Israel on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, which had occurred during the 10th of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in that year. Following the outbreak of hostilities, both the United States and the Soviet U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amnon Lipkin-Shahak
Amnon Lipkin-Shahak ( he, אמנון ליפקין-שחק; March 18, 1944 – December 19, 2012) was an Israeli military officer and politician. He served as Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, as a Member of the Knesset, and as Minister of Transportation and Minister of Tourism. Biography Lipkin-Shahak was the great-grandson of Yitzhak Lipkin, an early pioneer to Palestine and businessman who financed the construction of the Ohel Shlomo and Shaarei Yerushalayim courtyard neighborhoods on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem at the end of the 19th century. Lipkin-Shahak, born in Tel Aviv, was the third son of Zvi and Sarah, and brother to Yaacov and Tamar. He was married to journalist Tali Lipkin-Shahak and had five children. He earned a B.A. in general history from Tel Aviv University. In 1994, while serving as Deputy Chief of Staff, he said in an interview that four years earlier he was diagnosed with leukemia, but had since recovered. When it was discovered he had been serving as Di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
