David Ben-Besht ( he, דוד בן בעש"ט; born 1950) is a general in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

. Until 2007 he was commander of the

Israeli Navy The Israeli Navy ( he, חיל הים הישראלי, ''Ḥeil HaYam HaYisraeli'' (English: The Israeli Sea Corps); ar, البحرية الإسرائيلية) is the naval warfare service arm of the Israel Defense Forces, operating primarily in ...

Biography

David Ben-Besht was born in Israel. He received a B.A. in Economics and Business Management from the

University of Haifa The University of Haifa ( he, אוניברסיטת חיפה Arabic: جامعة حيفا) is a university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation in 1972, becoming Is ...

and studied at the United States Marine Corps College for a year in the early 1970s.

Naval career

Ben-Besht began his military career as a draftee in 1970, but then volunteered to attend the naval officer's course. Through the 1970s he commanded a number of vessels including a Saar 2 and a

Saar 4 The Sa'ar 4 or ''Reshef'' class were a series of fast attack craft built based on Israeli Navy designs grounded in accumulated experience derived in the operation of "Cherbourg" (Sa'ar 1, Sa'ar 2, and ) classes. Thirteen were built at t ...

missile boat. During the 1980s he moved into the area naval instructional, and from there he continued to advance up the

chain of command A command hierarchy is a group of people who carry out orders based on others' authority within the group. It can be viewed as part of a power structure, in which it is usually seen as the most vulnerable and also the most powerful part. Milit ...

, becoming the Israeli Navy's Chief of Staff in 2002 and commander in September 2004. As Naval Commander, Ben-Besht dealt with

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

arms smugglers moving equipment by boat from

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

into the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

."Navy Chief Ben Ba'ashat announces resignation". ''haaretz.com'' by Amos Harel, 7/26/07
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ben-Besht, David 1950 births Living people Israeli Navy generals University of Haifa alumni