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Lieutenant-General Moshe Ya'alon (born 1950) is a General of the Israeli Defence Force. He was appointed Chief of Staff (רמטכ"ל) in July of 2002.
He began his service in the Nahal Brigade but in reserve duty he served in the Paratroopers Brigade. He has vast combat experience as an infantry and a commando in a Sayeret elite unit. In the 1990s he served as a high-ranking officer and commanded large-scale units and systems.
Chief of Staff
He was appointed as chief of staff on July 2002. In Ya'alon term's, the Israeli Defence Forces - together with SHABAK and the Israeli West Bank barrier - managed to block the wave of Palestinian terrorism and sharply decrease the amount of successful suicide bombing attacks.
Ya'alon faced many complex challenges during his term:
- Fight Palestinian terrorism and thwart planned suicide bombings.
- Answer to criticism by left wing circles that claim that the IDF fail to keep its moral image during the conflict.
- Preparing the army for the 21st century while conceiving major budget cuts.
- Prepare plans for the operational part of the disengagement plan and the uprooting of Israeli settlements.
- Counter refusal threats from radical left wing and right wing circles.
- Reduce the terror in Gaza:
- Stop the shelling of Israeli settlements with mortars and Qassam rockets by Hamas.
- Stop the smuggling tunnels in Rafah.
- Hit Hamas terrorist infrastructure.
Whether Ya'alon managed to handle these challenges during his tenure is debated by military commentators, who differ in their assessments of Ya'alon's performance as a Chief of Staff.
Ya'alon's public pronouncements have been controversial. For example he told the Haaretz Newspaper on 27 August 2002,
- "the Palestinian threat harbors cancer-like attributes that have to be severed. There are all kinds of solutions to cancer. Some say it's necessary to amputate organs but at the moment I am applying chemotheraphy."
Ya'alon was criticized for impeaching Brigadier General Shmuel Zakai, the commander of the northern Gaza area, after he failed a polygraph test about leaking to the media.
In a surprising announcement, hardline Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz refused to renew Ya'alon's term on February 15, 2004. There was speculation that the popular commander was dismissed for his criticism of the Minister's harsh policies towards Palestinians and Sharon's disengagement plan. However, the common estimation is that the decision came on a personal background and tense relationship between the two.