Gadi Eizenkot

Gadi Eizenkot
Born 19 May 1960
Eilat, Israel
Allegiance Israel Defense Force
Service/branch Operations Directorate, Northern Command
Years of service 1978—
Rank Aluf
Commands held Commander of the Northern Command,Commander of the Golani Brigade, Military Secretary to the Prime Minister, Commander of the West Bank Division, Commander of the Operations Directorate
Battles/wars First Lebanon War, South Lebanon conflict (1982–2000), First Intifada, Second Intifada, Second Lebanon War

Aluf Gadi Eizenkot (born May 19, 1960) is a Major-General in the Israel Defense Forces.

After joining the IDF Eizenkot was assigned to the Golani Brigade, which he himself would eventually command from 1997-8. During that time he received a B.A. in History from Tel Aviv University and attended the US Army and Security Studies course.

In 1999 Eizenkot was selected to be the Military Secretary for the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense under then Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Since then he has commanded the 366th Division and the West Bank Division. He was promoted to head of Israeli Operations Directorate in June 2005.

After Maj. Gen. Udi Adam resigned in October 2006 amid criticism over his conduct in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, Eizenkot replaced him as head of the Northern Command.[1]

On July 11, 2011, the position was transferred to Major-General Yair Golan[2], and Eizenkot went on vacation in order to serve as a research fellow in an Israeli think tank, to return as deputy chief of General Staff in place of Maj.-Gen. Yair Naveh. In 2014 Eizenkot and Naveh will compete to become the 21st Chief of General Staff[3].

Strategic vision

Eisenkot is credited with being the most prominent exponent of the Dahiya doctrine (sometimes spelled as Dahieh or Dahiyeh), a defense strategy of Israel under which "Israel finally realizes that Arabs should be accountable for their leaders' acts"[4] It is named after a Hizbullah stronghold in Beirut that Israel flattened from the air in the 34-day Second Lebanon War. He expressed the doctrine's premise as follows: "What happened in the Dahiya quarter of Beirut in 2006 will happen in every village from which Israel is fired on. [...] We will apply disproportionate force on it and cause great damage and destruction there. From our standpoint, these are not civilian villages, they are military bases. [...] This is not a recommendation. This is a plan. And it has been approved.[5] There would be no mercy shown "when it comes to hitting the national infrastructure of a state that, in practice, is controlled by Hizbullah...."

Notes

  1. ^ "Eisencott replaces Adam as OC Northern Command", Jerusalem Post, October 19, 2006. Retrieved October 21, 2006.
  2. ^ Maj. Gen. Yair Golan becomes new head of Northern Command, IDF site (July 11, 2011).
  3. ^ Yaakov Katz, IDF makes history naming first-ever female major-general, Jpost (May 26, 2011).
  4. ^ "Israel finally realizes that Arabs should be accountable for their leaders’ acts" The Dahiya strategy, according to IDF Northern Command Chief Gadi Eisenkot. Interview in Yedioth Ahronoth. 10.06.08.
  5. ^ Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict (September 15, 2009). "HUMAN RIGHTS IN PALESTINE AND OTHER OCCUPIED ARAB TERRITORIES". The Guardian. http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/2009/09/15/UNFFMGCReport.pdf. Retrieved 2009-09-15. 

References

Carmel (1948–49) · Avidar (1949–52) · Dayan (1952) · Simhoni (1952–54) · Tzadok (1954–56) · Rabin (1956–59) · Zorea (1959–62) · Yoffe (1962–64) · Elazar (1964–69) · Gur (1969-72) · Hofi (1972–74) · Gur (1974) · Eitan (1974–77) · Ben-Gal (1977–81) · Drori (1981–83) · Or (1983–86) · Peled (1986–91) · Mordechai (1991–94) · Levin (1994–98) · Ashkenazi (1998–2002) · Gantz (2002–05) · Adam (2005–06) · Eizenkot (2006–2011) · Golan (2011–)