Chief of the General Staff (Israel)

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
• The Chief of the General Staff is to be placed under the authority of the government and subordinate to the Defense Minister
• 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 some occasions, even five. As of 15 January 2019, the Chief of the General Staff is Aviv Kochavi.

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 and eleven others (Yigael Yadin, Moshe Dayan, Tzvi Tzur, Haim Bar-Lev, Mordechai Gur, Rafael Eitan, Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, Shaul Mofaz, Moshe Ya'alon, Gabi Ashkenazi, and Benny Gantz) have served in the Knesset. Of these, only Tzur did not get appointed to the Cabinet. Five former Chiefs of the General Staff (Dayan, Rabin, Barak, Mofaz, and Ya'alon) held the position of Defense Minister, 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. Of these, Mofaz is the only one to serve as Defense Minister over his immediate successor as Chief of the General Staff (in Mofaz's case, Ya'alon). Moshe Dayan served also as Foreign Minister. 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 successful international business ventures.

The Chiefs of the General Staff have been:[1]

No.		Chief of the General Staff	Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Dori, YaakovRav Aluf Yaakov Dori (1899–1973)	1 June 1947	9 November 1949	2 years, 161 days
2		Yadin, YigaelRav Aluf Yigael Yadin (1917–1984)	9 November 1949	7 December 1952	3 years, 28 days
3		Maklef, MordechaiRav Aluf Mordechai Maklef (1920–1978)	7 December 1952	6 December 1953	364 days
4		Dayan, MosheRav Aluf Moshe Dayan (1915–1981)	6 December 1953	29 January 1958	4 years, 54 days
5		Laskov, HaimRav Aluf Haim Laskov (1919–1982)	29 January 1958	1 January 1961	2 years, 338 days
6		Laskov, HaimRav Aluf Tzvi Tzur (1923–2004)	1 January 1961	1 January 1964	3 years, 0 days
7		Rabin, YitzhakRav Aluf Yitzhak Rabin (1922–1995)	1 January 1964	1 January 1968	4 years, 0 days
8		Bar-Lev, HaimRav Aluf Haim Bar-Lev (1924–1994)	1 January 1968	1 January 1972	4 years, 0 days
9		Elazar, DavidRav Aluf David Elazar (1925–1976)	1 January 1972	3 April 1974	2 years, 92 days
-		Hofi, YitzhakAluf Yitzhak Hofi (1927–2014) Acting	3 April 1974	16 April 1974	13 days
10		Gur, MordechaiRav Aluf Mordechai Gur (1930–1995)	16 April 1974	16 April 1978	4 years, 0 days
11		Eitan, RafaelRav Aluf Rafael Eitan (1929–2004)	16 April 1978	19 April 1983	5 years, 3 days
12		Levi, MosheRav Aluf Moshe Levi (1936–2008)	19 April 1983	19 April 1987	4 years, 0 days
13		Shomron, DanRav Aluf Dan Shomron (1937–2008)	19 April 1987	1 April 1991	3 years, 347 days
14		Barak, EhudRav Aluf Ehud Barak (born 1942)	1 April 1991	1 January 1995	3 years, 275 days
15		Lipkin-Shahak, AmnonRav Aluf Amnon Lipkin-Shahak (1944–2012)	1 January 1995	9 July 1998	3 years, 189 days
16		Mofaz, ShaulRav Aluf Shaul Mofaz (born 1948)	9 July 1998	9 July 2002	4 years, 0 days
17		Ya'alon, MosheRav Aluf Moshe Ya'alon (born 1950)	9 July 2002	1 June 2005	2 years, 327 days
18		Halutz, DanRav Aluf Dan Halutz (born 1948)	1 June 2005	14 February 2007	1 year, 258 days
19		Ashkenazi, GabiRav Aluf Gabi Ashkenazi (born 1954)	14 February 2007	14 February 2011	4 years, 0 days
20		Gantz, BennyRav Aluf Benny Gantz (born 1959) [2]	14 February 2011	16 February 2015	4 years, 2 days
21		Eizenkot, GadiRav Aluf Gadi Eizenkot (born 1960) [3]	16 February 2015	15 January 2019	3 years, 333 days
22		Kochavi, AvivRav Aluf Aviv Kochavi (born 1964)	15 January 2019	Incumbent	1 year, 149 days