Operations Directorate

The Israeli Operations Directorate (Hebrew: אגף המבצעים‎, Agaf HaMivtza'im) is a branch in the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, established in 1999, alongside the regional commands, the air force and navy. Since September 2015, it is headed by Aluf Nitzan Alon.

Tasks

The directorate has the following responsibilities:

• Preparing the IDF for war, emergencies, and day-to-day security
• Deriving an operational strategy from the national security agenda and military doctrine
• Coordinating the IDF's work with the other security forces, and drafting IDF recommendations for the political echelon
• Instructing the regional command, air force, navy, GOC Army Headquarters and other directorates, with respect to the exercise of force and its coordination

Units

• Operations Division
• Instruction and Doctrine Division
• IDF Spokesperson
• Special Means Division
• Department for Campaign Design
• Centre for Consciousness Operations
• Inspection and Supervision Department
• General Staff Security Department

Commanders

The list includes those who served as heads of operations prior to when it was spun off from the IDF's General Staff. The list also includes pre-IDF Haganah commander Yigael Yadin who also served in that capacity during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Dan Halutz, who original served as the Aide to Chief of the Operations Branch, was appointed to the head of the Operations Directorate soon after its establishment.

Name	Term start	Term end	Notes
Yigael Yadin	November 16, 1947	November 9, 1949
Mordechai Maklef	November 14, 1949	December 7, 1952
Moshe Dayan	December 17, 1952	December 6, 1953
Yosef Avidar	December 22, 1953	February 15, 1955
Meir Amit	February 23, 1955	May 28, 1955	Later Director of Mossad
Haim Laskov	August 28, 1955	July 24, 1956
Meir Amit	October 5, 1956	January 26, 1958
Tzvi Tzur	1958
Meir Zorea	September 10, 1958	April 28, 1959
Yitzhak Rabin	April 28, 1959	January 23, 1961	5th Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin	January 23, 1961	December 30, 1963
Haim Bar-Lev	January 1, 1964	April 27, 1966
Ezer Weizman	April 27, 1966	December 14, 1969	Later President of Israel
David Elazar	December 23, 1969	January 1, 1972
Israel Tal	January 1, 1972	June 28, 1973
Rehavam Ze'evi	November 2, 1973	January 16, 1974
Yitzhak Hofi	January 16, 1974	April 16, 1974	Later Director of Mossad
Herzl Shafir	April 16, 1974	March 1, 1976	Later Commissioner of Police
Yekutiel Adam	March 2, 1976	August 25, 1977
Rafael Eitan	August 25, 1977	April 7, 1978
Yekutiel Adam	1978	January 1982
Moshe Levi	January 1982	1983
David Ivry	1983	1985
Dan Shomron	January 17, 1985	October 1, 1986
Amir Drori	October 1, 1986	April 6, 1987
Ehud Barak	May 7, 1987	March 13, 1991	10th Prime Minister
Amnon Lipkin-Shahak	March 13, 1991	November 29, 1994
Matan Vilnai	November 29, 1994	September 15, 1997
Shaul Mofaz	September 15, 1997	June 11, 1998
Uzi Dayan	June 11, 1998	June 27, 1999
Dan Halutz	June 27, 1999	September 15, 2000
Giora Eiland	September 15, 2000	January 25, 2001
Dan Harel	January 26, 2001	2003
Israel Ziv	2003	2005
Gadi Eizenkot	June 2005	October 12, 2006
Tal Russo	October 12, 2006	October 4, 2010
Yaakov Ayash	October 4, 2010	September 6, 2012
Yoav Har-Even	September 6, 2012	May 26, 2015
Nitzan Alon	May 26, 2015

Assistant Head of the Operations Branch

The list is of those who served as Assistant Head of the Operations Branch prior to establishment of the Operations Directorate in 1999.

Name	Term	Notes
Tzvi Tzur	1950–1951
Haim Ben-David	1951–1953
Ilan Meyer	1953–1954
Asaf Simhoni	1954–1956
Meir Zorea	1956
Uzi Narkiss	1956–1957	During Sinai War
Ariel Amiad	1957–1958
Shalom Iron	1958–1960
Israel Tal	1961
Oded Masar	July to December 1961
Yeshayahu Gavish	1961–1962
Elad Peled	1962–1963
Gideon Elrom	1963–1964
Rehavam Ze'evi	1964–1968	During Six-Day War
Yitzhak Hofi	1968–1969
Herzl Shafir	1969–1971
Yona Efrat	1971–1973
Arie Levy	1973–1974	During Yom Kippur War
Mordechai Tzipori	1974–1976
Avigdor Ben-Gal	1976
Natan Sharoni	1976–1978
Eitan Barak	1978–1980
Uri Simchoni	1980–1981
Giora Ram-Forman	1981–1983	During the First Lebanon War
Uri Sagi	1983–1986
Amram Mitzna	1986–1987
Giora Romm	1987–1989
Zeev Livne	1989–1992
Nehemiah Tamari	1992–1993
Meir Dagan	1993–1995
Eitan Ben Eliyahu	1995–1996
Gabi Ashkenazi	1996–1998
Dan Halutz	1998–1999	Post terminated; Halutz became head of the Operations Directorate

References

See also

• Directorate of Operations (CIA)