Zohar Palti

Zohar Palti was born in 1964 in Tel Aviv

Zohar Palti was born in Tel Aviv in 1964 and grew up in Ramat HaSharon. He attended the Rutberg High School there.

He joined the IDF Intelligence Corps in 1982 and held a series of intelligence posts. His last IDF role was deputy head of the Research Division, at the rank of colonel. During that time the division was criticized for wrongly assessing in early 2006 that Fatah would win the Palestinian legislative elections.

In 2006 he moved to the Mossad at the request of its director, Meir Dagan. He became head of the strategic research division in 2010, and in 2011 Tamir Pardo named him head of the intelligence directorate. His term covered the Arab revolutions, the Syrian Civil War and the Iranian nuclear program, and he was among those who opposed an Israeli air strike on Iran's nuclear sites.

After leaving the Mossad in 2016, he was a senior research fellow at Harvard's Belfer Center. In March 2017 he became head of the Political-Military Bureau at the Ministry of Defense and served until March 2022. That month the US Department of Defense awarded him its Public Service Medal.

He holds a BA and an Executive MA in Middle Eastern studies from Tel Aviv University. He is married with 2 children.