Aluf ( 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, fo ...

Eliezer "Eli" Shkedy (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

: אליעזר "אלי" שקדי; born 16 August 1957) is a retired

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

, who served as commander of the

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; , commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial and space warfare branch of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Indep ...

from 4 April 2004 until 13 May 2008. He is also a former CEO of

El Al EL AL Israel Airlines Ltd. (), trading as EL AL (, "Upwards", "To the Skies", or "Skywards", stylized as ELAL; ) is the flag carrier of Israel. Since its inaugural flight from Geneva to Tel Aviv in September 1948, the airline has grown to serve ...

, the

flag carrier A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by that government for international operations. Histo ...

of Israel. Shkedy was born in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

; his father was a

Hungarian-Jewish The history of the Jews in Hungary dates back to at least the Kingdom of Hungary, with some records even predating the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin in 895 CE by over 600 years. Written sources prove that Jewish communities lived i ...

Holocaust survivor Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, its collaborators before and during World War II ...

, whereas his mother was an Egyptian-Jewish immigrant. Shkedy, a resident of Yehud-Monosson, was born in

and after graduating from high school in

Kfar Saba Kfar Saba ( ), officially Kfar Sava , is a List of Israeli cities, city in the Sharon plain, Sharon region, of the Central District (Israel), Central District of State of Israel, Israel. In 2019 it had a population of 110,456, making it the 16th-l ...

he was conscripted into the IDF in 1975. He was accepted into the IAF Flight Academy and graduated as a fighter pilot. Shkedy was a member of several units before he was assigned to

Hatzerim Airbase Hatzerim Airbase (, ''Basis Heil HaAvir Hatzerim'', ''lit.'' Homesteads) is an Israeli Air Force, Israeli Air Force (IAF) base on the northern edge of the Negev, Negev desert in the Southern District (Israel), Southern District of Israel, 6&nbs ...

. He was based there during the

1982 Lebanon War The 1982 Lebanon War, also called the Second Israeli invasion of Lebanon, began on 6 June 1982, when Israel invaded southern Lebanon. The invasion followed a series of attacks and counter-attacks between the Palestine Liberation Organization ...

in which he shot down two enemy aircraft. In the mid-1980s, Shkedy studied at

Ben-Gurion University Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) (, ''Universitat Ben-Guriyon baNegev'') is a public research university in Beersheba, Israel. Named after Israeli national founder David Ben-Gurion, the university was founded in 1969 and currently has f ...

, receiving a B.Sc. in Mathematics and Computer Science. He continued his career in the IAF until the mid-1990s when he studied for an M.A. in

Systems management Systems management is enterprise-wide System administration, administration of distributed systems including (and commonly in practice) computer systems. Systems management is strongly influenced by network management initiatives in telecommunic ...

at the US

Naval Postgraduate School Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is a Naval command with a graduate university mission, operated by the United States Navy and located in Monterey, California. The NPS mission is to provide "defense-focused graduate education, including clas ...

in California. He was promoted to commander of the Israeli Air Force on 4 April 2004 and was succeeded in the position by Aluf Ido Nehoshtan upon his retirement on 13 May 2008. He is the chairman of the NGO Heroes for life. General Shkedy was appointed front commander against countries that do not border Israel. This put him in charge of Israeli Iran Command, which was set up to be the overall coordinator of Israeli military operations and intelligence gathering against Iran should a war start between the two countries. Although the appointment was reported in late August 2006, it was said to have occurred before the Second Lebanon War began.

Notes

References

IDF Bio
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Shkedi, Eliezer 1957 births Ben-Gurion University of the Negev alumni Israeli Air Force generals Israeli military aviators Living people Naval Postgraduate School alumni Foreign recipients of the Legion of Merit Israeli chief executives Chief executives in the airline industry Israeli people of Egyptian-Jewish descent Israeli people of Hungarian-Jewish descent Israeli Ashkenazi Jews Israeli Mizrahi Jews