Gershon Hacohen

Gershon HaCohen (; born 1955) is a retired Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officer who held the rank of Aluf (Major General). Over more than four decades of service he commanded troops in combat on both the Egyptian and Syrian fronts, and held senior positions including Commander of the Northern Corps, Commander of the IDF Military Colleges, and Commander of the 36th Division. In 2005 he was the officer responsible for implementing Israel's unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip. Upon his retirement in 2014 he was the last serving IDF officer to have fought in the Yom Kippur War. Since retiring he has been a senior research fellow at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (BESA Center) at Bar-Ilan University, and a prominent commentator on Israeli security policy.

Early life HaCohen was born in Jerusalem in 1955. He holds a Master of Arts in Philosophy and Comparative Literature from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Military career

Induction and the Yom Kippur War (1973) HaCohen was drafted into the IDF in early 1973.

When HaCohen retired in 2014 he was described as the last serving IDF officer to have fought in the Yom Kippur War, the last active IDF commander to have fought against Syrian troops on Syrian soil, and the only active IDF commander to have battled Egyptian forces.

1982 Lebanon War During the 1982 Lebanon War, HaCohen served as a deputy battalion commander in the 7th Armored Brigade.

South Lebanon (1988 and 1993–1995) HaCohen served as a battalion commander in Israel's security zone in south Lebanon in the spring and summer of 1988. From 1993 he commanded the 7th Armored Brigade — a role confirmed by the brigade's own command list as running from October 1993 to August 1995

Head of the Training and Doctrine Division HaCohen subsequently served as Head of the Training and Doctrine Division in the IDF General Staff.

Commander of the IDF Military Colleges HaCohen served as Commander of the IDF Military Colleges , a command that encompasses the IDF National Defense College and other senior military educational institutions.

2005 Gaza Disengagement In 2005, while serving as commander of the 36th Division on the Golan Heights,

HaCohen, who came from a Religious Zionist background and was personally opposed to the withdrawal, nonetheless carried out his orders. Prior to the withdrawal, at an IDF General Staff war game in April 2005, a scenario was simulated in which militants in Gaza launched rockets at the Israeli cities of Ashdod, Sderot, and Ashkelon. HaCohen used the exercise to warn that Israel would lack adequate means of retaliation once it had withdrawn from Gaza, and later recounted that Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon told him he was "speaking politically," to which he replied he was "the only one here speaking professionally." Co-founder and member, Israel Defense and Security Forum (IDSF) (, Bitachonistim) — an organisation of tens of thousands of reserve officers and former security officials.

HaCohen is a regular contributor to Israel Hayom and other publications on security and strategic affairs.

Views

Security doctrine HaCohen has consistently criticised what he sees as Israel's drift toward a defensive, deterrence-centred security concept. Drawing on David Ben-Gurion's founding doctrine — which called for carrying the battle into enemy territory and seizing the initiative — he has argued that Israel's security establishment has grown too reliant on passive responses rather than offensive action.