Ofer Winter

Ofer Winter (; born 3 February 1971) is a retired Israel Defense Forces Brigadier General who has served in the reserves since 2024 and is also the founder of Amcha Yisrael. He served as the commander of 98th Paratroopers Division, the military secretary to the Israeli Minister of Defense, the Chief of Staff of Central Command, the commander of the Givati Brigade, the commander of the Northern Brigade in the Gaza Strip, the commander of the 646 Brigade, the commander of the Duvdevan Unit, and the commander of the Givati Reconnaissance Battalion.

Early life and education Winter was born in Rekhasim and grew up in Kiryat Ata. He is the eldest of four siblings. His family is of Hungarian-Jewish origin. According to him, he received his combat heritage from his father David (Dutzo), who during the Yom Kippur War was a soldier in the 113th Armored Battalion and fought on both sides of the Suez Canal for 19 consecutive days.

He later served as the IDF attaché to the Marines from 2005 to 2007. In 2007, he was appointed commander of the Duvdevan Unit. At his initiative, the unit participated for the first time in fighting in the Gaza Strip during the 2008–2009 Operation Cast Lead. During his command, the unit won the Chief of Staff's Award for Outstanding Units for operational activity. He completed his role in November 2009. In December 2009, he was promoted to the rank of colonel and appointed commander of the 35th Paratroopers Brigade's reserve , the "Marom Foxes" (Shu'alei Marom), completing his role in May 2011. On 18 May 2011, he was appointed commander of the Northern Brigade in the Gaza Strip, a position he held until 21 July 2013.

Givati Brigade commander On 22 August 2013, he was appointed commander of the Givati Brigade and led the brigade, among other things, during Operation Protective Edge. At the beginning of the operation, on 9 July 2014, a "Commander's Page for Battle" he wrote to the brigade's soldiers was published, in which, in addition to messages such as emphasizing mission accomplishment and defending the people and the homeland,

On 29 April 2015, he received the MAFAT Award for Creative Thinking. The award was given to him, a team from MAFAT-Ministry of Defense, Shayetet 13, and the companies Rafael and Artemis for the "Snake Pit" project – a system that combines several technologies to deal with the underground threat, which was integrated during Operation Protective Edge and proved to have significant operational contribution.

On 21 June 2015, he completed his role. He then attended the National Security College in the 43rd cohort (2015–2016).

Brigadier General roles On 13 July 2016, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general and appointed Chief of Staff of the Central Command, a position he held until September 2018. On 11 October 2018, he was appointed Military Secretary to the Minister of Defense. During his tenure, he served under Defense Ministers Avigdor Lieberman, Benjamin Netanyahu, Naftali Bennett, and Benny Gantz. He served in this role until 2 July 2020. On 9 August 2020, he was appointed commander of the Fire Formation. On 9 June 2021, the Chief of Staff, Aviv Kohavi, reprimanded him for a conversation he had with Knesset member Naftali Bennett without approval and without reporting it to his superiors, contrary to IDF regulations prohibiting direct contact between servicemen and elected officials. He completed his role in the Fire Formation on 21 September 2022, and went to study at Reichman University.

Winter was not promoted in May 2023.

In 2023, on the morning of 7 October attack, upon receiving the first reports of the surprise attack by the Hamas organization, he arrived on his own initiative at the front, joined the fighters in the Be'eri area, and participated in a battle in which 11 militants were killed.

On 8 May 2024, the Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi, informed Winter of the end of his service in the IDF.

Political career Winter was offered a reserved slot on the Likud list, which he declined.

Winter announced in mid-August that he would launch a new political party at an event at SHALVA Center in Jerusalem on 25 August, ahead of the 2026 Israeli legislative election, after advertising its launch in billboards along Ayalon Highway and online. He published a video that called for mass emigration from Gaza as a solution for the enclave, a topic which was also brought up during the launch of the party, which is named Amcha Yisrael. The party list includes Arab-Israeli advocacy activist Yoseph Haddad, former Jerusalem deputy mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, and the economist Ronen Bondero.

Personal life Winter resides in Mitzpe Netofa, married to Revital and father of eight. One of his daughters is married to the son of Ofek Buchris.