Shlomo "Sami" Turgeman (; born July 11, 1964) is a
Major General in the
IDF 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 and head of the Operations Division of the
Operations Directorate
The Israeli Operations Directorate (, ''Agaf HaMivtza'im'', abbreviated as ( ''Agam'') is the Operations (military staff), operations branch in the Israeli General Staff, General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. It was established in 1999, al ...
. He was previously commander of the
Pillar of Fire Reserves Formation in the Northern Command.
Biography
Turgeman was born in
Marrakesh
Marrakesh or Marrakech (; , ) is the fourth-largest city in Morocco. It is one of the four imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakesh–Safi Regions of Morocco, region. The city lies west of the foothills of the Atlas Mounta ...
,
Morocco
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
, and made ''
aliyah
''Aliyah'' (, ; ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel or the Palestine (region), Palestine region, which is today chiefly represented by the Israel ...
'' with his family when he was half a year old. He grew up in
Ashkelon
Ashkelon ( ; , ; ) or Ashqelon, is a coastal city in the Southern District (Israel), Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip.
The modern city i ...
, 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 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
Bar-Ilan University (BIU, , ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic university institution. It has 20,000 ...
and a Masters in Business Administration from
Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...
.
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