Gabi Ashkenazi

Gabi Aschkenasi as Chief of Staff (2007)

Gabriel "Gabi" Ashkenazi , Hebrew גבי אשכנזי(Born July 28, 1954 in Chagor , Drom HaScharon ) is an Israeli Lieutenant General (Raw-Aluf) and was the 19th Chief of Staff (Ramatkal) of the Israeli Armed Forces from February 14, 2007 to February 14, 2011 .

He has been a member of the Knesset since April 30, 2019 and Israel's Foreign Minister in the Cabinet of Benjamin Netanyahu V since May 17, 2020 .

Life

Family and studies

Ashkenazi is married and has two children. He graduated from the University of Haifa with a bachelor's degree in political science and is a graduate of the Harvard Business Management program for senior executives at the Kennedy School of Government .

For the etymology of the family name, see: Ashkenazim . However, Ashkenazi is also a common Sephardic - Jewish name. Gabi Aschkenasi's father is a Bulgarian Sephardic Jew and his mother is a Syrian Jew.

Military career

In 1972 Ashkenazi began his military service in the Golani Brigade of the Israeli armed forces and fought on the southern front in the Yom Kippur War . In 1976 he was involved in Operation Entebbe and served from 1978 to 1979 as a deputy battalion commander in the Golani Brigade. He was wounded during Operation Litani . From 1979 to 1980 he completed the Barak Command and Staff Course and graduated with honors. He then took over command of a battalion of the Golani Brigade from 1980 to 1982 and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1981 . In the first Lebanon War , Ashkenazi was deputy commander of the Golani Brigade and took Beaufort , Nabatea and Jebel Baruch with his troops . From 1983 to 1984 he completed the command and staff course of the US Marines . He was then employed in 1984 as an operations officer in the headquarters of the infantry and paratrooper corps .

In 1984 Aschkenasi was promoted to colonel and took over command of a regional brigade of the northern command until 1987 . In 1987 he finally took over the command of his old unit, the Golani Brigade , and a year later, in 1988, served as operations officer of the Northern Command. In 1990 he was transferred to the Panzer Corps, promoted to the rank of brigadier general and until 1992 took over command of a tank division of the reserve of the Northern Command. From 1992 to 1994 he served as the commander of the Lebanon liaison unit and in 1994 moved to the General Staff as director of operations. In 1996 he was promoted to Aluf and served until 1998 as assistant department head in the general staff. After two years at this post, he took over the post of Commanding General of the North Command in 1998 , which he held for four years. He then took over the post of deputy chief of staff in 2002 and finally retired in 2005 because Dan Chalutz was preferred to him in the appointment of chief of staff; whereupon Ashkenazi resigned from military service.

Defense Minister Amir Peretz finally convinced him in the summer of 2006 to take up a post in his ministry, which he did. On January 22, 2007, it was announced from the office of the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that Ashkenazi should succeed Dan Chalutz as chief of staff.

On February 4, 2007, the Israeli cabinet unanimously appointed him Chief of Staff. In doing so, they immediately agreed on a four-year term of office and not, as usual, on a three-year term of office with the prospect of an extension by one year. On February 14, Ashkenazi was finally promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and sworn in as chief of staff. On February 14, 2011, he was replaced as planned. Benny Gantz was his successor .

Stuxnet indiscretion

When he left the civil service in mid-February 2011, Aschkenasi had a video made that highlighted his services. Surprisingly, these include the bombing of a Syrian nuclear reactor and the development of the Stuxnet computer virus , for which the Israeli government had never officially assumed responsibility.

References

Web links

Commons : Gabi Ashkenazi  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Official Biography (English)
• Gabi Aschkenasi , Knesset website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} FR: A "prince" becomes the new chief of staff
2. ↑ Ashkenazi: Greatest challenge is improving IDF readiness  ( page can no longer be accessed , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ( Jerusalem Post of February 14, 2007; English)  
3. ↑ https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/israel-regierung-benjamin-netanjahu-1.4910388
4. ↑ Who is Gabi Ashkenazi? (Newsletter, January 23, 2007 from the Israeli Embassy in Vienna)
5. ↑ cf. Thorsten Schmitz in the Süddeutsche Zeitung , January 23, 2007, p. 4.
6. ↑ Olmert, Peretz agree on choice of Ashkenazi as next IDF chief ( Memento of February 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) ( Haaretz of January 23, 2007; English)
7. ↑ Cabinet unanimously approves Gabi Ashkenazi as new IDF chief ( Memento of February 6, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) ( Haaretz of February 4, 2007; English)
8. ↑ Article on Haaretz Online ( Memento from February 17, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (from February 15, 2011, Hebrew)
9. ↑ Ashkenazi Video Admits IDF Bombed Syrian Nuclear Reactor and Created Stuxnet (blog entry by Richard Silverstein from February 15, 2011, English)

predecessor	Office	successor
Moshe Kaplinski (acting)	Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces 2007–2011	Benny Gantz