Aluf (Hebrew: אלוף, lit. "Champion") is the term used for General and Admiral in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). In addition to the Aluf rank itself, there are four other ranks which are derivatives of the word. Together, they constitute the five highest ranks in the IDF.
Rav Aluf is usually translated as "Lieutenant General", but is often considered to equate to a Field Marshal or five-star General, since it is the most senior rank in the IDF. The rank is given only to the Chief of General Staff (Ramatkal), so there can only be one active Rav Aluf under regular circumstances. However this could change in a time of war. During the Yom Kippur War in 1973, retired Rav Aluf Haim Bar-Lev was called back into service, replacing Shmuel Gonen as the commander of the southern theater. Thus, along with chief of the general staff David Elazar (who succeeded Bar-Lev in that position the previous year), there were two people in active service holding the rank of Rav Aluf simultaneously.
Israel is essentially a land and air power, with the navy being apportioned less than five percent of the military budget. Consequently, there are no separate naval ranks (although they were introduced for a brief spell in the 1950's), and Aluf can be an Admiral as well as a General.
The term Aluf is taken from the Bible, where it was a rank of nobility among the Edomites, ancient Judea's neighbors (and often, enemies) to the south. It comes from an archaic root meaning "thousand"; "Aluf" is the one who commands a thousand people.
The non-Hebrew word "general" was also adopted into Hebrew (גנרל), and is used to refer to the generals of foreign armies. It can also be used colloquially in reference to a senior Israeli officer, in a derogatory sense—implying that the officer in question is over-officious, incompetent, or involved in internecine power struggles with other officers, sometimes referred to as the "war of the generals" (Hebrew: "מלחמת הגנרלים"), to the neglect of proper military duties. For example, in a speech made by the former Israeli Labor Party chairman Amir Peretz, he criticized two other party members who both hold the rank of "Aluf" (ret.): former Vice-Chief of General Staff, Aluf Matan Vilnai and former Commander of the Israeli Navy, Aluf Ami Ayalon, referring to them (and other former senior officers of the IDF) as "the generals and admirals":
"I look around me, and hear the voices, I look and I don't believe. Whenever a party does not win the status of a ruling party, the most respectable post is the Defense Ministry. And I hear the generals, and the admirals say: 'Why the Defense Ministry?' I hear the voices, and I am happy with myself, because this means we succeeded in changing the agenda in the State of Israel. The revolution is that a social general is no longer ruled out from being a minister of defense, and our generals yearn to deal with social issues."