Tomer Bar
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Tomer Bar (; born 1969) is an Israeli general currently commanding 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 ...
. Before his selection to succeed Amikam Norkin as commander of the IAF, Bar served as head of the IDF Force Design Directorate, a reorganized version of what was once the
Planning Directorate The Planning Directorate (Hebrew: אגף התכנון, Acronym: AGAT) was the central body in the Israel Defense Forces' Israeli General Staff, General Staff whose focus was on strategic and tactical planning, the building of military forces, and ...
.


Biography

Bar was born in 1969, one of six children of Erela and Natan Bar. He enlisted in the IDF in 1987 and completed pilot course with honors in 1989. He served as a
F-16 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is an American single-engine supersonic multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it e ...
fighter pilot with the
110 110 may refer to: *110 (number), natural number *AD 110, a year *110 BC, a year *110 film, a cartridge-based film format used in still photography * 110 (MBTA bus), Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority bus route *110 (song), 2019 song by Cap ...
, 116 and 140 Squadrons. After a period of study in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, he was assigned as an
F-15 The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is an American twin-engine, all-weather fighter aircraft designed by McDonnell Douglas (now part of Boeing). Following reviews of proposals, the United States Air Force (USAF) selected McDonnell Douglas's des ...
pilot with the 133 Squadron in 1998. From 1999 to 2002, he served as head of the Operations Branch at the Air Force Headquarters. In 2005, Bar was appointed commander of the 69 Squadron, which was equipped with the F-15I, and commanded the squadron during the
Second Lebanon War The 2006 Lebanon War was a 34-day armed conflict in Lebanon, fought between Hezbollah and Israel. The war started on 12 July 2006, and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect in the morning on 14 August 2006, thoug ...
. During his tenure, the squadron have undertaken
Operation Orchard Operation Outside the Box, also known as Operation Orchard, was an Israeli airstrike on a suspected nuclear reactor, referred to as the Al Kibar site (also referred to in IAEA documents as Dair Alzour), in the Deir ez-Zor region of Syria, w ...
, the destruction of a Syrian nuclear site on September 6, 2007. During his service, he served as head of the Air Force's Operations Department for three years, including during
Operation Cast Lead Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...
. In 2010, he was appointed commander of the Israeli Air Force Flight Academy, and served in that position until 2012. In February 2012, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general and appointed commander of the
Tel Nof Airbase Tel Nof Airbase (, English: Lookout hill) , also known as Air Force Base 8, is the oldest and main base of the Israeli Air Force (IAF) located 5 km south of Rehovot, Israel. Tel Nof houses two strike fighter, two transport helicopter and a ...
, where he took part in the training of
UAV An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Drone ...
operators and commanded the base during Operation Pillar of Cloud. On October 17, 2017, he was appointed chief of staff of the Air Force, and served in that position until October 22, 2019, including during the February 2018 Israel–Syria incident. On June 18, 2020, he was promoted to the rank of Major General, and was appointed Head of the IDF Force Design Directorate on June 21. In September 2021, he was announced as the next appointee of commander of the IAF and on April 4, 2022, Bar was appointed commander of the IAF, replacing Major General Amikam Norkin. Throughout 2023, he faced the challenge of Air Force reservist pilots refusing to serve in protest as part of their involvement in the
2023 Israeli judicial reform protests From January to October 2023, large-scale protests took place across Israel in response to the government's push for a 2023 Israeli judicial reform, wide-ranging judicial reform. The proposed reform aimed to give the government full control of ...
. In July 2023, in response to attacks by right-wing politicians and activists against the IDF during the protests, he stated that "the harsh statements said against the IDF and the Air Force, both mandatory service and reserves in recent days, there is no place in our society for such statements, and they are desecrating and are causing great damage to the cohesion of our forces." On October 3, 2023, Bar issued an ultimatum to pilots protesting judicial reform who were refusing to serve that they return to service by October 17 or risk being removed from the Air Force. On October 7, 2023, militant group
Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...
launched a surprise attack on Israel, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of Israeli soldiers and civilians. The Air Force, under Bar's command, took part in operations to contain the terrorists who infiltrated Israel during the attack. It also carried out intensive strikes in the
Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...
and
Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...
during the
Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...
and played a significant role in countering the Iranian strikes against Israel in April 2024. Throughout the war, he also flew several combat sorties.


Awards and decorations

Tomer Bar was awarded three campaign ribbons for his service during three conflicts.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bar, Tomer Israeli Air Force generals Israeli aviators Israeli Jews 1969 births Living people People from Northern District (Israel) Israeli military personnel of the Israel–Hamas war