Shlomo "Sami" Turgeman ( he, שלמה "סמי" תורג'מן; born July 11, 1964) is a

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

IDF IDF or idf may refer to: Defence forces * Irish Defence Forces * Israel Defense Forces *Iceland Defense Force, of the US Armed Forces, 1951-2006 * Indian Defence Force, a part-time force, 1917 Organizations * Israeli Diving Federation * Interac ...

reserves and is a former commander of the IDF Southern Command. His other past posts include: head of the Ground Forces, head of 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 ...

and head of the Operations Division of the Operations Directorate. He was previously commander of the Pillar of Fire Reserves Formation in the Northern Command.

Biography

Turgeman was born in

Marrakesh Marrakesh or Marrakech ( or ; ar, مراكش, murrākuš, ; ber, ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ, translit=mṛṛakc}) is the fourth largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakes ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

, and made ''

aliyah Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the Israel, State of Israel ...

'' with his family when he was half a year old. He grew up in Ashkelon, and lived there until 2004. In 1982 he was drafted to the IDF and has served the majority of his army service in the Armored Corps. He served as a tank commander in the 14th Brigade, as a platoon commander in the 401st Brigade (the ''I'kvot Ha'Barzel'' formation), and as a company commander in the 460th Brigade. In 1992 he was appointed commander of the Battalion 52 of the 401st Brigade. In 1994 he was selected as Operations Officer of the 162nd Division (the Plada formation). In 1996 he served as the commander of a reserves' brigade and as an instructor in a company commander/ battalion commander training course. From 1997 to 1999 he served as head of the training division in the former ground forces command. Between 1999 and 2001 he served as the commander of the

500th Brigade The Israeli Armor Corps 500 Brigade, also known as the Kfir (Young Lion) Formation, was a regular-service tank brigade that existed from 1972 to 2003. It was originally composed of three battalions: the Romach (429), Se'ara (430), and Gur (433) ba ...

and following as the commander of the Armored Corps' Training Brigade. In 2003 he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General and appointed commander the reserve division the ''Amud Aish'' formation of the Northern Command. He simultaneously (2004–2005) served as Chief Armored Officer. Following he served as head of the Operations Directorate and between October 2007 and June 2009 he served as commander of the ''Ga'ash formation''. In September 2009 he was promoted to Maj. General and appointed head of the IDF's Ground Forces Branch. From 2013 to 2015, he was head of IDF Southern Command He holds a B.S. of Social Science from Bar Ilan University and a Masters in Business Administration from

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

. He is married and is a father of five.

References

External links

Sami Turgeman on the IDF Spokesperson website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turgeman, Sami 1964 births Living people Israeli generals Israeli Mizrahi Jews 20th-century Moroccan Jews Tel Aviv University alumni People from Ashkelon People from Marrakesh Moroccan emigrants to Israel