Herzi Halevi (17 December 1967-) was Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces from 16 January 2023, succeeding Aviv Kochavi.
Biography[]
Herzi Halevi was born in Jerusalem, Israel in 1967, the son of an Irgun veteran and a descendant of Russian-Jewish immigrants. Halevi was drafted into the IDF in 1985 and served in the South Lebanon conflict and as a Sayeret Matkal company commander during the Second Intifada. Halevi commanded the IDF Paratroopers Brigade during Operation Cast Lead in 2007, rose to Brigadier-General in 2009 and Major-General in 2014, commanded the IDF Southern Command during Operation Black Belt in 2019, and served as Chief of the General Staff from 2023. While he came from a family of right-wing Irgun supporters and was religiously conservative as an Orthodox Jew, he supported the separation of politics and the military.