Supreme command of the Israel Defense Force changed hands Sunday when retiring Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Moshe Levy turned over his pennant and insignia of rank to his successor, Maj. Gen. Dan Shomron, who was promptly promoted to Lt. Gen. by Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Both senior officers received personal congratulations from President Chaim Herzog, Premier Yitzhak Shamir and Rabin. Shomron was received by an honor guard at IDF general headquarters and went to his office to chair his first meeting of the IDF high command.
Levy drove to his home in Kibbutz Beth Alfa where he donned civilian clothes after 33 years in uniform. His immediate plans are not known. He expects to go the U.S. for advanced university studies.
Shomron, 50, now Israel’s 13th Chief of Staff, was born in Kibbutz Ashdod Yaacov in the Jordan Valley and began his military career in 1956 as a paratrooper. He commanded an armored division in Sinai during the Six-Day War, later served as commander of the southern front and in numerous staff jobs, rising to Deputy Chief of Staff before his appointment early this year to supreme commander.
He is best known to the Israeli public as the planner of “Operation Jonathan,” the long-range rescue of hostages from Entebbe airport in Uganda on July 4,1976.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
