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 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 ...

. The current Chief of the General Staff is

Aviv Kochavi Rav-Aluf (Lieutenant General) Aviv Kochavi ( he, אביב כוכבי; born 23 April 1964) is the Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, having taken the oath of office on January 15, 2019. He was the commander of the Gaza Division, ...

. At any given time, the Chief of the General Staff is the only active officer holding the IDF's highest rank, ''

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. ...

'' (), which is usually translated into English as

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on th ...

, a three-star rank. The only exception to this rule occurred during the

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 E ...

, 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 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 Kipp ...

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 the Haganah. With the establishment of the IDF, the Chief of Defense and the Chief of Staff, headed by Yaakov Dori, were converted to head the IDF. The chief of the general staff is officially appointed for a three-year term, which can be extended for another year. An exception was Rafael Eitan, whose term was extended twice, and he served a total of five years. On the other hand, there were several chiefs of staff who did not complete their full term:

Yigal 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. B ...

resigned amid disagreements over the IDF budget, Mordechai Maklef served for only one year at his request,

was forced to resign following the recommendations of the

Agranat Commission The Agranat Commission (Hebrew: ועדת אגרנט) was a National Commission of Inquiry set up to investigate failings in the Israel Defense Forces in the prelude to the Yom Kippur War, when Israel was found unprepared for the Egyptian attack ag ...

investigating the Yom Kippur War, and Dan Halutz resigned due to criticism of the Second Lebanon War. Also, two chiefs of staff have given up part of their tenure extension:

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 ...

wanted to end his term in the middle of the fourth year, due to his desire to move into politics and run for prime minister. Haim Laskov asked not to serve a fourth year due to his disagreements with Shimon Peres. In 2005, Ariel Sharon and Shaul Mofaz did not extend Moshe Ya'alon's term to a fourth year, during which he was interpreted as a dismissal in light of Ya'alon's opposition to the disengagement plan. In order to prevent such problems in the future, and as was done for other positions such as that of the President of the State, Defense Minister Amir Peretz appointed Major General Gabi Ashkenazi in 2007 for a period of four years, thus removing the uncertainty regarding the addition of the fourth year. Ashkenazi raised the issue of extending his term to a fifth year. At the end of his term, the Chief of the General Staff (like other senior members of the Israeli defense establishment) has a cooling-off period of three years before he can be elected a Member of the Knesset, be appointed a Minister in the Government or be elected Prime Minister.

Legal position

The position of ''ramatkal'' is defined in the '' Basic Law: The Military'' (1976), clause three: *The supreme command rank in the military is that of the Chief of the

General Staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military ...

*The Chief of the General Staff is to be placed under the authority of the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...

and subordinate to the

Defense Minister A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in s ...

*The Chief of the General Staff is to be appointed by the government, according to the recommendation of the Defense Minister The Chief of the General Staff is formally appointed once every three years, with the government often extending the term to four years, and in one occasion, even five.

Significance

Given the importance of the IDF in Israeli society, the Chief of the General Staff is an important public figure in Israel. On appointment of a new Chief of the General Staff, mass-circulation papers such as '' Yediot Aharonot'' and '' Israel Hayom'' customarily provide their readers with large-scale portrait photos of the new Chief. Former Chiefs of the General Staff often parlay the prominence of their position into political life, and sometimes the business world. Two Chiefs of the General Staff ( Yitzhak Rabin and Ehud Barak) have become

Prime Minister of Israel The prime minister of Israel ( he, רֹאשׁ הַמֶּמְשָׁלָה, Rosh HaMemshala, Head of the Government, Hebrew acronym: he2, רה״מ; ar, رئيس الحكومة, ''Ra'īs al-Ḥukūma'') is the head of government and chief exe ...

and eleven others ( Yigael Yadin,

Moshe Dayan Moshe Dayan ( he, משה דיין; 20 May 1915 – 16 October 1981) was an Israeli military leader and politician. As commander of the Jerusalem front in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (1953–1958) dur ...

, Tzvi Tzur, Haim Bar-Lev, Mordechai Gur, Rafael Eitan,

, Shaul Mofaz, Moshe Ya'alon, Gabi Ashkenazi, and

Benny Gantz Benjamin Gantz ( he, בִּנְיָמִין "בֵּנִי" גַּנְץ, Transliterated: ; born 9 June 1959) is an Israeli politician and retired army general serving as the minister of Defense since 2020 and deputy prime minister of Israel si ...

) have served in the

Knesset The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (wit ...

. Of these, only Tzur did not get appointed to the Cabinet. Six former Chiefs of the General Staff (Dayan, Rabin, Barak, Mofaz, Ya'alon, and Gantz) held the position of

, widely considered to be one of the most powerful ministerial posts in the country and the immediate civilian superior of the Chief of the General Staff. The current holder of the post (as of March 2021) is former Chief of the General Staff

. Moshe Dayan served also as

Foreign Minister A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

. Soon after his discharge, Dan Halutz became the CEO of a prestigious car importer. Ehud Barak took a hiatus from politics twice after defeats for re-election and pursued international business ventures.

List of Chiefs of the General Staff

The Chiefs of the General Staff have been:

Timeline

ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:10 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:50 right:160 left:20 AlignBars = late DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:1947 till:2025 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1950 Define $now = 2022 Colors = id:cgs value:rgb(1,0,0) legend: CGS id:acgs value:rgb(0.7,0.7,0.7) legend: ACGS id:time value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.9) Legend = orientation:vertical position:right LineData = layer:back width:0.1 color:time at:1950 at:1955 at:1960 at:1965 at:1970 at:1975 at:1980 at:1985 at:1990 at:1995 at:2000 at:2005 at:2010 at:2015 at:2020 at:2025 BarData = barset:PM bar:dori bar:yadin bar:maklef bar:dayan bar:laskov bar:tzur bar:rabin bar:bar-lev bar:elazar bar:hofi bar:gur bar:eitan bar:levi bar:shomron bar:barak bar:lipkin-shahak bar:mofaz bar:yaalon bar:halutz bar:ashkenazi bar:gantz bar:eizenkot bar:kochavi PlotData= width:6 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till barset:PM bar:dori from:1947 till:1949 color:cgs text:" Dori" bar:yadin from:1949 till:1952 color:cgs text:" Yadin" bar:maklef from:1952 till:1953 color:cgs text:" Maklef" bar:dayan from:1953 till:1958 color:cgs text:" Dayan" bar:laskov from:1958 till:1961 color:cgs text:" Laskov" bar:tzur from:1961 till:1964 color:cgs text:" Tzur" bar:rabin from:1964 till:1968 color:cgs text:" Rabin" bar:bar-lev from:1968 till:1972 color:cgs text:" Bar-Lev" bar:elazar from:1972 till:1974 color:cgs text:"

Elazar Eleazar (; ) or Elʽazar was a priest in the Hebrew Bible, the second High Priest, succeeding his father Aaron after he died. He was a nephew of Moses. Biblical narrative Eleazar played a number of roles during the course of the Exodus, fro ...

" bar:hofi from:1974 till:1974 color:acgs text:" Hofi" bar:gur from:1974 till:1978 color:cgs text:" Gur" bar:eitan from:1978 till:1983 color:cgs text:" Eitan" bar:levi from:1983 till:1987 color:cgs text:" Levi" bar:shomron from:1987 till:1991 color:cgs text:"

Shomron Samaria (; he, שֹׁמְרוֹן, translit=Šōmrōn, ar, السامرة, translit=as-Sāmirah) is the historic and biblical name used for the central region of Palestine, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first-ce ...

" bar:barak from:1991 till:1995 color:cgs text:" Barak" bar:lipkin-shahak from:1995 till:1998 color:cgs text:" Lipkin-Shahak" bar:mofaz from:1998 till:2002 color:cgs text:" Mofaz" bar:yaalon from:2002 till:2005 color:cgs text:" Ya'alon" bar:halutz from:2005 till:2007 color:cgs text:" Halutz" bar:ashkenazi from:2007 till:2011 color:cgs text:"

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

" bar:gantz from:2011 till:2015 color:cgs text:" Gantz" bar:eizenkot from:2015 till:2019 color:cgs text:" Eizenkot" bar:kochavi from:2019 till:$now color:cgs text:" Kochavi"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chief of General Staff (Israel) Military ranks of Israel * Israeli generals

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 ...

Commanders in chief