The Deputy Chief of the General Staff is the second to the Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. The deputy chief of staff is an officer with the rank of major general (Aluf). The current deputy chief of staff is Major General (Aluf) Tamir Yadai.
History The position of deputy chief of staff was not continuously filled. Until 1999, deputy chiefs of staff served as the commanders of the General Staff Directorate simultaneously, With the exception of Haim Bar-Lev, who held office on the eve of and during the Six Day War, and Israel Tal, who held office after the Yom Kippur War. In 1999, the Operations Directorate was established and the positions were officially separated, Since then, it is common to see the deputy chief of staff as the person in charge of the IDF force building, Procurement, development, equipping and maintenance of weapons, planning, recruitment and training of personnel and maintaining their fitness and more. Despite legislative proposals on the matter, the deputy chief of staff is not defined by law as acting in place of the chief of staff.
Since 2005 The Control and Surveillance Department in the IDF has been subordinate to the deputy chief of staff. In 2016–2017, the Computer Service Directorate was also subordinate to the deputy chief of staff.
The acting deputy chief of staff is usually one of the natural candidates to replace the outgoing chief of staff. And it is accepted to see the fulfillment of the position as an "apprenticeship" before taking command of the IDF. 19 of the 22 chiefs of staff who have headed the IDF to date, previously served in the position of deputy chief of staff, usually close to their appointment as chief of the General Staff.
List of deputy chiefs Picture Name Period of serving Chief of Staff Remarks Tzvi Ayalon January 1948 Yaakov Dori Mordechai Maklef 9 November 1949 – 7 December 1952 Yigael Yadin 3rd Chief of Staff Moshe Dayan 7 December 1952 – December 1953 Mordechai Maklef 4th Chief of Staff Haim Laskov 20 August 1955 – 23 July 1956 Moshe Dayan 5th Chief of Staff Tzvi Tzur 1958 – 1958 Haim Laskov 6th Chief of Staff Yitzhak Rabin 23 January 1961 – 30 December 1963 Tzvi Tzur 7th Chief of Staff Haim Bar-Lev May 1967 – January 1968 Yitzhak Rabin 8th Chief of Staff David Elazar 1969 – January 1972 Haim Bar-Lev 9th Chief of Staff Israel Tal 1972 – 1973 David Elazar Herzl Shafir April 1974 – March 1976Mordechai Gur 7th commissioner of the Israeli Police Rafael Eitan August 1977 – April 1978 11th Chief of Staff Yekutiel Adam 1978 – 1982Rafael Eitan Killed in the 1982 Lebanon War before he could take up his post as Chief of Staff Moshe Levi 1982 – 1983 12th Chief of Staff David Ivry 1983 – 1985Moshe Levi Dan Shomron 17 January 1985 – 1 October 1986 13th Chief of Staff Amir Drori 1 October 1986 – 6 April 1987Dan Shomron Ehud Barak 7 May 1987 – 13 March 1991 14th Chief of Staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak 13 March 1991 – 29 November 1994 Ehud Barak 15th Chief of Staff Matan Vilnai 29 November 1994 – 15 September 1997Amnon Lipkin-Shahak Shaul Mofaz 15 September 1997 – 11 June 1998 16th Chief of Staff Uzi Dayan 11 June 1998 – 15 September 2000Shaul Mofaz Moshe Ya'alon 15 September 2000 – 9 July 2002 17th Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi 9 July 2002 – 15 July 2004Moshe Ya'alon 19th Chief of Staff Dan Halutz 15 July 2004 – 17 March 2005 18th Chief of Staff Moshe Kaplinsky 17 March 2005 – 1 October 2007 Dan Halutz Dan Harel 1 October 2007 – 1 October 2009Gabi Ashkenazi Director-general of Defense Ministry Benny Gantz 1 October 2009 – 25 November 2010 20th Chief of Staff Yair Naveh 25 November 2010 – 14 January 2013Benny Gantz Gadi Eizenkot 14 January 2013 – 15 December 2014 21st Chief of Staff Yair Golan15 December 2014 – 11 May 2017Gadi Eizenkot Aviv Kochavi 11 May 2017 – 13 December 2018 22nd Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir 13 December 2018 – 11 July 2021Aviv Kochavi 24th Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi 11 July 2021 – 31 October 2022 23rd Chief of Staff Amir Baram 31 October 2022 – 6 March 2025 Herzi HaleviEyal Zamir Tamir Yadai 6 March 2025 – present Eyal Zamir
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