Franco Gonen

Franco Gonen was born in 1948 in Sfax

Franco Gonen was born in June 1948 in Sfax. He holds a bachelor's degree in humanities from Tel Aviv University. He is a graduate of the US Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth and of the IDF Command and Staff College.

Gonen served in the IDF Artillery Corps. He commanded Battalion 55, led Artillery Group 449 in Division 880 during the First Lebanon War, and commanded the Amud HaEsh formation from 1982 to 1984. He was Northern Command artillery officer, deputy chief artillery officer, an instructor at the joint command and staff college, and IDF attaché in Zaire.

He left regular service as a colonel in 1992. He then headed the security and emergency division of the Jerusalem municipality. He later held senior posts in Holon, and became director general of Rosh HaAyin in 1999 and of Rehovot in 2001.

From April 2007 to September 2009 he chaired the appointed committee running the Ma'ale Iron local council. A 2015 State Comptroller report criticized the committee's decisions and benefits, and a 2018 court ruling passed the matter to the Interior and Finance ministries, which decided not to demand repayment. From October 2009 to April 2017 he was director general of the Rishon LeZion municipality.