Gabi Ashkenazi

Gabi Ashkenazi was born in 1954 in Hagor

Ashkenazi was born in 1954 and grew up in the moshav Hagor, which his parents helped found. His father Yosef was a Holocaust survivor from Plovdiv, Bulgaria, and his mother Freda came from Aleppo, Syria. At 14 he began studying at the military boarding school in Tel Aviv.

He earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Haifa. He also studied at the U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College and, in 2004, attended a management program at Harvard Business School.

He joined the IDF in 1972 and served for years in the Golani Brigade, which he commanded from 1987. He later headed Northern Command, served as Deputy Chief of Staff, and retired in 2005 after Dan Halutz was chosen as chief of staff. In 2006 he became director-general of the Defense Ministry.

He served as Chief of the General Staff from 2007 to 2011 and led Operation Hot Winter and Operation Cast Lead. He then chaired Shemen Oil and Gas and the Rashi Foundation.

In 2019 he entered the Knesset with Blue and White. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2020 to 2021 and did not run in the 2021 election.