Amir Eshel

Amir Eshel (; born 4 April 1959) is a former Israeli general who served as commander of the Israeli Air Force and served as Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Defense until January 2, 2022.

Biography Amir Eshel was born in Jaffa. His father Yehezekel (Hezi) Eshel (originally Batat), was born in Iraq and immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1936. He fought in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War in the Givati Brigade. His mother Edna was a Holocaust survivor from Russia.

Eshel is married and a father of three. He holds a degree in economics from Auburn University at Montgomery, Alabama, and a degree in political science from the University of Haifa’s National Security Studies Center.

Eshel later explained that "We're talking about a personal dream of 15 years ... This is the most significant expression of the rebirth of this nation. As the IAF, we are the most concrete expression of the might of the Jewish people and there's no one better than us to express it". He also admitted that he deliberately violated an agreement with the Polish government by flying at a very low altitude. He was quoted saying to other pilots: "We listened to the Polish for 800 years. Today, we don’t have to listen anymore". The spokesman of Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum criticized the fly-over stating that it was not consulted with the Museum and that "It's a cemetery, a place of silence and concentration" and that "Flying the F-15s is a demonstration of military might which is an entirely inappropriate way to commemorate the victims ". The Israeli delegation had been in Poland on the occasion of the Polish Air Force's 85th anniversary and had participated in the Radom Air Show.

In 2004 Eshel became head of the IAF's Air Group, commanding all operational assets and in January 2006 was appointed IAF Chief of Staff, a role he filled during the 2006 Lebanon War.

On March 27, 2008, he was promoted to the rank of Major General and appointed head of the IDF's Planning Directorate. He replaced Ido Nehoshtan, which had just been appointed Commander in Chief of the IAF. On February 5, 2012, Eshel was announced as Nehoshtan's successor as Commander in Chief of the Israeli Air Force, when the latter completed his tenure in May 2012. He received the U.S. Legion of Merit and Germany’s Bundeswehr Gold Cross of Honor.

Public sector career

He was one of the leaders of Pnima, a campaign to institute universal national service for all Israeli citizens reaching adulthood. He told the Times of Israel that "he IDF isn’t really a people’s army. It’s a half-of-the-people’s army."

On August 31, 2020, Eshel became Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Defense after being appointed to this position by the Minister of Defense Benny Gantz. Eshel is serving as a senior fellow the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.