Ya’alon okays IDF appointment of Military Intelligence chief

Brig.-Gen. Herzl Levi will become the new head of MI, replacing Maj.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi, who has served in the role for over three years.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
Ya'alon and Gantz smiling at each other 370 (photo credit: Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)
Ya'alon and Gantz smiling at each other 370
(photo credit: Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon approved on Friday a series of military appointments that were recommended by IDF Chief of Staff Lt.- Gen. Benny Gantz, which included the naming of a new Military Intelligence chief.
Brig.-Gen. Herzl Levi, who heads the Command and Staff College, will be promoted to the rank of major-general, and will become the head of Military Intelligence, replacing Maj.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi, who has served in the role for three-and- a-half years.
He will take over a Military Intelligence directorate that is growing in size as it tracks security developments in multiple, critical sectors on Israel’s borders, as well as Iran’s nuclear program and the Islamic Republic’s multinational arms smuggling networks.
Levi has held a series of senior command posts, including commander of the Galilee Division – a position he received in 2011. Before that, he completed two years as head of the Activation Division in the Intelligence Branch.
In 2007, Levi was appointed commander of the Paratroop Brigade, holding that position for two years.
The outgoing Military Intelligence chief, Maj.-Gen.
Kochavi, will become the head of IDF Northern Command, replacing Maj.-Gen. Yair Golan, who had overseen northern military forces for two-and-a-half years.
Brig.-Gen. Hagai Topolinski, the head of Israel Air Force Staff, will be promoted to major-general and become the head of the IDF Personnel Directorate, replacing Maj.- Gen. Orna Barbivai, who has been in the position for three years, and is due to retire from military service.
Gantz has made a series of appointments in the General Staff forum as well, including naming Brig.-Gen. Yossi Becher – the commander of a company and battalion commanders’ course – as the commander of the General Staff Corps in the Northern Command.