GOVERNMENT

Aviv Kochavi

IDF chief of staff

Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi is the chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, having taken the oath of office in January 2019. His distinguished career serving Israel’s defense requirements goes back more than three decades. During the two wars Israel was compelled to fight against Hamas terrorists in Gaza in the last 10 years, Operation Pillar of Defense and Operation Protective Edge, Kochavi served as chief of Israel’s Military Intelligence Directorate. A key focus for Kochavi is the changing nature of the terrorist threat faced by Israel. “The firepower the enemy will encounter in the next war will be unprecedented,” he warned this year. Any country that “allows terrorism to entrench itself in its territory will be seen as responsible for it, and suffer the consequences,” Kochavi said. (Photo: Flash90)