Chief of General Staff (Israel)

The Chief of the General Staff, also known as the Commander-in-Chief of the Israel Defense Forces (Hebrew: ראש המטה הכללי‎‎, Rosh HaMateh HaKlali, abbr. Ramatkal—רמטכ"ל) is the supreme commander and Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. At any given time, the Chief of Staff is the only active officer holding the IDF's highest rank, Rav Aluf (Hebrew: רב-אלוף‎), which is usually translated into English as Lieutenant General. (The lone exception to this rule occurred during the Yom Kippur War, when former Chief of Staff Haim Bar-Lev, who was a government member at the moment of war outbreak, was brought out of retirement and installed as chief of Southern Command. For a brief period, he and Chief of Staff David Elazar were both in active service with the rank of Rav Aluf.)

Legal position

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 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 February 14, 2011, the Chief of General Staff is Benny Gantz.

Significance

Given the importance of the IDF in Israeli society, the Chief of Staff is a highly-respected and public figure. Former Chiefs of Staff frequently often parlay the prominence of their position into political life, and in later case, the business world. Two Chiefs of Staff (Yitzhak Rabin and Ehud Barak) have become Prime Minister of Israel and nine others (Yigael Yadin, Moshe Dayan, Tzvi Tzur, Haim Bar-Lev, Mordechai Gur, Rafael Eitan, Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, Shaul Mofaz and Moshe Ya'alon) have served in the Knesset. Of these, only Tzur did not get appointed to the Cabinet. Ehud Barak and three other former Chiefs of Staff (Dayan, Rabin and Mofaz) held the position of Defense Minister, widely considered to be the most powerful ministerial post in the country and the immediate civilian superior of the Chief of Staff; of these, Mofaz is the only one to serve as Defense Minister over his immediate successor as Chief of Staff (in Mofaz's case, Ya'alon). Soon after his discharge, Dan Halutz became the C.E.O. of a prestigious car importer. Ehud Barak took a hiatus from politics twice after defeats for reelection and pursued successful international business ventures.

List of IDF Chiefs of Staff