Benjamin Gantz (9 June 1959-) was IDF Chief of Staff from 14 February 2011 to 16 February 2015 (succeeding Gabi Ashkenazi and preceding Gadi Eizenkot) and Defense Minister of Israel from 17 May 2020 to 29 December 2022 (succeeding Naftali Bennett and preceding Yoav Galant).
Biography[]
Benjamin Gantz was born in Kfar Ahim, Israel in 1959, the son of Jewish immigrants from Hungary and Romania. He served as an IDF paratrooper during Operation Litani and the First Lebanon War, as a commando during Operation Solomon, the Second Intifada, and the Second Lebanon War, as commander of the Northern Command in 2001, as military attaché in the USA from 2005 to 2009, as Chief of Staff of the IDF from 2011 to 2015 (including during Operation Protective Edge in 2014), and as Defense Minister from 2020 to 2022. Gantz entered politics in 2018 by founding the Israel Resilience Party, and he led the Blue and White alliance in opposition to Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing nationalist government. Gantz served as Alternate Prime Minister from 2020 to 2021 and as Defense Minister until Netanyahu's return to power, but he agreed to serve as a Minister without portfolio in Netanyahu's war cabinet during the 2023 Israel-Hamas War.