Defense Minister Yisrael Katz approved this evening (Wednesday) the recommendation of Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir for two key appointments of generals to the General Staff:
• Major General Yaniv Asor will be appointed commander of the Southern Command in place of Yaron Finkelman - and will begin his position next week.
• Brigadier General Itzik Cohen will be appointed head of the Operations Division, replacing Oded Besiuk. He will be promoted to the rank of major general. Cohen will take up the position in the coming months.
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Major General Asor, who served in positions such as Golan Brigade Commander, Commander of Sayeret Egoz, Commander of the Golan Division, and Head of the Operations Brigade, did not receive a promotion from outgoing Chief of Staff Herzliya Halevi.
In the previous round of appointments, he competed against Finkelman for the position of Southern Command commander and did not win it.
In his last position, he served for a decade as head of the ACHA.
In a speech he gave at the end of his term, he criticized Herzi Halevi: "For over 400 days, we have been working to restore the people's trust in Israel. First of all, trust is based on successes on the battlefield, but also on the realization of the responsibility that falls on the heads of the army. By the very nature of their role, in conducting in-depth investigations, in examining failures in depth, in drawing lessons and implementing them.".
Biography:
Major General Yaniv Asor was born in 1972 and enlisted in the 12th Battalion of the Golani Brigade in 1990.
2004-2006 – Served as commander of the 1st Bukaim Battalion (51) in the Golani Brigade, during the Second Lebanon War, in which the battalion under his command received the Commander of the Northern Command Medal.
2006-2008 – Served as commander of the Egoz unit. During this period, the unit carried out dozens of special operations under his command in Gaza and the West Bank.
2009-2011 – Served as commander of the Hiram Division.
2011-2012 – Served as Deputy Commander of the Gaash Brigade.
2012-2014 – Served as commander of the Golani Brigade.
2015-2018 – Served as commander of the Bashan Division.
2018-2020 - Served as Head of the Operations Division.
2021-2024– Served as Head of the Human Resources Department.
Major General Yaniv Asor holds a BA in Logistics from Bar-Ilan University and an MBA from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He is a graduate of the Marine Command and Staff College in the United States and the Royal College of Security Studies in the United Kingdom.
Aluf Asor is married and a father of four, from Moshav Mivtachim in the Gaza Strip.
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Brigadier General Itzik Cohen, who currently serves as the commander of Division 162, is considered one of the leading and most prominent division commanders in 'Iron Swords.' He fought for 16 consecutive months in Gaza.
Biography:
Brigadier General Itzik Cohen was born in Israel in 1977 and enlisted in the Givati Brigade in 1995.
2009-2011 - Served as commander of the "Tsabar" Battalion (432) in the Givati Brigade.
2011-2012 - Served as head of the Urban Warfare Branch at the Land Force Headquarters.
2012-2014 - Served as commander of the training and education base in the Givati Brigade.
2014-2016 - Served as commander of the "Yoav" regional brigade.
2016-2018 - Served as commander of the "Yehuda" regional brigade.
2019-2021 - Served as commander of the Givati Brigade.
2021-2023 - Served as commander of the "Red" formation (80).
2023-present - Serves as commander of the "Steel" formation (162).
Brigadier General Itzik Cohen is a graduate of the Command and Staff Course and the National Security College, holds a bachelor's degree in government and strategy from the Interdisciplinary University in Herzliya and a master's degree in political science from the University of Haifa.
Brigadier General Cohen is married and has four children.
Hillel Biton Rosen, military and security correspondent for Channel 14, wrote: "Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir greatly appreciates Itzik Cohen, believes in him and certainly wants him by his side throughout his tenure in the General Staff.
""At the same time, he thinks that the recent appointments of first-line generals as commanding generals, including Toledano, Finkelman and Blott, were wrong, and that a commanding general should be appointed as a second-line general.".
