Gershon HaCohen

Gershon HaCohen
Native name	גרשון הכהן
Born	1955 (age 70–71) Jerusalem, Israel
Allegiance	Israel
Branch	Israel Defense Forces
Service years	1973–2014
Rank	Aluf (Major General)
Commands	Commander, Northern Corps Commander, IDF Military Colleges Commander, 36th Division Commander, 7th Armored Brigade (1993–1995)
Conflicts	Yom Kippur War 1982 Lebanon War South Lebanon conflict (1985–2000) Gaza disengagement (2005)

Gershon HaCohen (Hebrew: גרשון הכהן; 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. The Yom Kippur War broke out in October 1973. He fought as an infantry soldier in the Sinai Peninsula, engaging Egyptian forces. He began his service in the Nahal infantry brigade before transferring to the Armored Corps, in which he rose through the ranks.

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 — and subsequently served as Deputy Commander of the 36th Division until 1997.

Head of the Training and Doctrine Division

HaCohen subsequently served as Head of the Training and Doctrine Division in the IDF General Staff. In 2000, in that capacity, he was asked to produce a paper assessing how Israel could defend itself without control of the Jordan Valley, as envisaged under peace proposals then under discussion. He later recalled concluding that this was strategically impossible, comparing it to asking "an F-15 pilot to just rise up without an engine."

Commander of the IDF Military Colleges

HaCohen served as Commander of the IDF Military Colleges (Hebrew: מפקד מכללות צה"ל), a command that encompasses the IDF National Defense College and other senior military educational institutions. It was from this position that he was appointed to command the Northern Corps in 2010.

2005 Gaza Disengagement

In 2005, while serving as commander of the 36th Division]] on the Golan Heights, HaCohen was appointed the officer responsible for implementing Israel's unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip — Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to evacuate all Israeli settlements and military forces from the territory. Approximately 8,500 Israeli civilians were evacuated from 21 settlements in Gaza, along with settlers from four small settlements in the northern West Bank.

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."

HaCohen was given approximately one month to complete the civilian evacuation; he completed the operation in two weeks, with no soldiers killed during the process.

Commander of the Northern Corps (2010–2014)

In January 2010, IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi appointed HaCohen Commander of the Northern Corps, replacing Udi Shani, who had retired from the IDF to become Director-General of the Defense Ministry. HaCohen held this command until his retirement in 2014, completing over 41 years of service. His farewell was toasted by IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz.

Post-military career

Since retiring from active service HaCohen has held several research and public policy positions:

• Senior Research Fellow, Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (BESA Center), Bar-Ilan University — his primary academic affiliation, where he publishes regularly on Israeli security doctrine, military strategy, and Middle Eastern affairs.
• Co-founder and member, Israel Defense and Security Forum (IDSF) (Hebrew: בִּטְחוֹנִיסְטִים, Bitachonistim) — an organisation of tens of thousands of reserve officers and former security officials.
• Fellow, International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT), Reichman University.
• Member, New State Solution Working Group, MirYam Institute.

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.

His experience commanding in south Lebanon shaped his view that the IDF's withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000 provided Hezbollah with a strategic model: deploying asymmetric warfare to neutralise Israeli military advantages while preserving its own freedom of action.

Territorial policy

HaCohen has been an outspoken opponent of any Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, arguing that Israeli control of the Jordan Valley and the West Bank highlands is a non-negotiable security requirement. He has stated publicly that a two-state solution requiring the large-scale evacuation of Israeli settlers would be catastrophic for Israel.

October 7 attack and its aftermath

Following the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, HaCohen was widely cited as one of the few senior Israeli figures who had accurately forecast the strategic risks of the 2005 Gaza disengagement. He became a prominent voice in subsequent public debate about the collapse of the Israeli security concept built around deterrence and the post-Oslo Accords framework.

Family

Gershon has four brothers, all of whom head educational institutions. Rabbi Re'em HaCohen is head of Yeshivat Otniel, Rabbi Elyashiv HaCohen, Rosh yeshiva at Yeshivat Beit Shmuel in Hadera, Rabbi Aviya HaCohen, Ra"m at Yeshivat Tekoa, and Rabbi Chayim HaCohen, head of the Beit Yatir Mechina.

External links

• Gershon Hacohen's publications at the BESA Center
• Profile at the Israel Defense and Security Forum
• Profile at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism
• What's National in National Security (Hebrew: מה לאומי בביטחון לאומי; Ministry of Defense Publishing House, 2014) — argues for the importance of ideological vision and national values in crafting security doctrine.