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. ...

Yitzhak "Haki" Harel ( he, יצחק הראל; born 1957) is the CEO of

Israel Railways Israel Railways Ltd. , dba Israel Railways ( he, רַכֶּבֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל, ''Rakevet Yisra'el''), is the state-owned principal railway company responsible for all inter-city, commuter, and freight rail transport in Israel. Isr ...

and former

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

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 ...

. His last command post was the

Planning Directorate The Planning Directorate was the central body in the Israel Defense Forces' General Staff whose focus was on the strategic and tactical planning, the building of military forces, and military organization of the armed forces. It also served as a pla ...

. Harel was born as Yitzhak Schwartz in

Netanya Netanya (also known as Natanya, he, נְתַנְיָה) is a city in the Northern Central District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between Poleg stream and Wingate I ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, and grew up in

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

and

Safed Safed (known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as Tzfat; Sephardi Hebrew, Sephardic Hebrew & Modern Hebrew: צְפַת ''Tsfat'', Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation, Ashkenazi Hebrew: ''Tzfas'', Biblical Hebrew: ''Ṣǝp̄aṯ''; ar, صفد, ''Ṣafad''), i ...

. He graduated 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 ...

with a B.A. in state affairs and also studied at the IDF Command and Administration Academy. Harel joined the IDF's

Combat Engineering Corps The Israeli Combat Engineering Corps ( he, חיל ההנדסה הקרבית, ''Heil HaHandasa HaKravit'') is the combat engineering forces of the Israel Defense Forces. The Combat Engineering Corps beret's color is silver and its symbol feature ...

in 1975 and advanced through the ranks in the

Armored Corps An armoured corps (also mechanized corps or tank corps) is a specialized military organization whose role is to conduct armoured warfare. The units belonging to an armoured corps include military staff, and are equipped with tanks and other armou ...

. He became a battalion commander at the age of 27, and at the age of 34 commanded the 7th Brigade. In 2002, Harel was promoted to the rank of major general as the commander of the Northern Corps (a wartime post), and in 2003 he became the first Computer Services Directorate chief. In December of the same year he entered his final post as head of the Planning Directorate. He retired from the IDF in August 2006. Yitzhak Schwartz married Dafna in 1981 and they changed their surname to Harel, looking for a Hebrew name. As of December 2008, he has 2 children and lives in

Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut ( he, מוֹדִיעִין-מַכַּבִּים-רֵעוּת) is an Israeli city located in central Israel, about southeast of Tel Aviv and west of Jerusalem, and is connected to those two cities via Highway 443. In t ...

References

External links

Bio from IDF"Security and Defense: 'We are at war". Interview with Harel in the ''Jerusalem Post''
Living people Israeli generals 1957 births University of Haifa alumni {{Israel-bio-stub