Assaf Zalal

Assaf Zalal was born in 1977

Zalal was born in 1977 in Beersheba and has a twin brother and a younger sister. His family moved to Kiryat Tivon when he was a small child. As a teenager he was involved in crime and did not earn a high school matriculation certificate.

He joined the IDF in 1996 and first served in the Military Police, where he completed officer training and commanded Force 100 at Megiddo Prison. In 1998 he was accepted to the flight course and finished it with honors as a fighter pilot. He flew the F-16, commanded the 110th Squadron and later headed the air force control and operations unit and its training department.

In 2020 he was promoted to brigadier general and appointed head of the multi-branch strike division in the ground forces. He holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from Ruppin Academic Center and a master's degree in national security and political science from the National Security College. He has also given talks on Holocaust remembrance and on including youth at risk.

Education Minister Yoav Kisch appointed him director general of the ministry, and he took office on 17 January 2023. He announced his resignation on 28 July 2023 over the rift caused by the judicial reform. He serves as an outside director at the public company T&M Group.