Gavriel "Gabi" Ashkenazi (, born February 25, 1954), was the
Chief of General Staff (Hebrew: רמטכ"ל Ramatkal) of the
Israel Defence Forces from 2007 to 2011.
Life and career
Background and early life
Ashkenazi was born and grew up in
Hagor, a
moshav, or
cooperative agricultural community in the
Sharon region of
central Israel. Ashkenazi's father, a
Bulgarian Jewish Holocaust survivor, and mother, a
Syrian Jew, helped found the community. Ashkenazi completed
high school at a military
boarding school affiliated with the prestigious
Gymnasia Herzliya in
Tel Aviv. His roommates included
Yigal Schwartz, a major figure in Israeli literature, and
Yoav Toker, a Paris-based
broadcast journalist.
Golani Brigade (1972–1988)
Drafted into Israel's
Golani Brigade in 1972, Ashkenazi first saw action in the
Sinai Peninsula during the 1973
Yom Kippur War. In July 1976 Ashkenazi was a platoon commander in the force that carried out
Operation Thunderbolt, a mission to rescue hostages held in
Uganda, but he did not participate in the battle at
Entebbe Airport. Ashkenazi's first of many experiences in
Lebanon came in 1978 during
Operation Litani. Ashkenazi was wounded in the fighting and left the IDF before being asked to return as a
battalion commander two years later.<ref name =...
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