23 Chiefs of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces

The Chief of the General Staff, also known as the Commander-in-Chief of the Israel Defense Forces, is the supreme commander and head of the Israel Defense Forces.

Gabriel "Gabi" Ashkenazi is an Israeli politician and former military leader. He currently serves as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was the Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces from 2007 to 2011. He was the fourth Mizrahi Jew to become Chief of Staff of the IDF.

Haim "Kidoni" Bar-Lev was a military officer during Israel's pre-state and early statehood eras and later a government minister.

Ehud Barak is an Israeli general and politician who served as the tenth Prime Minister from 1999 to 2001. He was leader of the Labor Party until January 2011. He previously held the posts of Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister under Ehud Olmert and then in Benjamin Netanyahu's second government from 2007 to 2013, as he retired from politics at the end of the tenure, though he returned in June 2019 with the formation of a new party.

Moshe Dayan was an Israeli military leader and politician. As commander of the Jerusalem front in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (1953–58) during the 1956 Suez Crisis, but mainly as Defense Minister during the Six-Day War in 1967, he became to the world a fighting symbol of the new state of Israel. In the 1930s, Dayan joined the Haganah, the pre-state Jewish defense force of Mandatory Palestine. He served in the Special Night Squads under Orde Wingate during the Arab revolt in Palestine and later lost an eye in a raid on Vichy forces in Lebanon during World War II. Dayan was close to David Ben-Gurion and joined him in leaving the Mapai party and setting up the Rafi party in 1965 with Shimon Peres. Dayan became Defence Minister just before the 1967 Six-Day War. After the Yom Kippur War of 1973, during which Dayan served as Defense Minister, he was blamed for the lack of preparedness; after some time he resigned. In 1977, following the election of Menachem Begin as Prime Minister, Dayan was expelled from the Labor Party because he joined the Likud-led government as Foreign Minister, playing an important part in negotiating the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.

Yaakov Dori was the first Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). He was also the President of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.

Rafael "Raful" Eitan was an Israeli general, former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (Ramatkal) and later a politician, a Knesset member, and government minister.

Gadi Eizenkot or Eisenkot was the 21st Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. He is the originator of the so-called Dahiya doctrine.

David "Dado" Elazar was the ninth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), serving in that capacity from 1972 to 1974. He was forced to resign in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War.

Benjamin Gantz is an Israeli soldier and politician serving as Alternate Prime Minister of Israel and Minister of Defense since 2020. He served as the 20th Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) from 2011 to 2015 and the 17th Speaker of the Knesset from 26 March 2020 to 17 May 2020.

Lt. Gen. Mordechai "Motta" Gur was an Israeli politician and the 10th Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. During the Six-Day War (1967), he commanded the brigade that penetrated the Old City of Jerusalem and broadcast the famous words, "The Temple Mount is in our hands!". As Chief of Staff, he had responsibility for planning and executing Operation Entebbe (1976) to free Jewish hostages in Uganda. He later entered the Knesset and held various ministerial portfolios. Gur wrote three popular children's books and three books about military history.

Dan Halutz is an Israeli Air Force lieutenant general and former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces and commander of the Israeli Air Force. Halutz served as Chief of Staff in 2005–2007.

Lieutenant General Aviv Kochavi is the Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, having taken the oath of office on January 15, 2019. He was the commander of the Gaza Division during the unilateral disengagement, and also the head of the Northern Command. Between November 2010 and September 2014 Kochavi served as the Military Intelligence Director.

Haim Laskov was an Israeli public figure and the fifth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces.

Moshe Levi was an Israeli military commander and the 12th chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). He served in this position from 1983 to 1987. He was the first chief of staff of Mizrahi origin.

Amnon Lipkin-Shahak was an Israeli military officer and politician. He served as Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, as a Member of the Knesset, and as Minister of Transportation and Tourism.

Mordechai (Motke) Maklef was the third Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and later, director-general of many important public companies in the Israeli economy.

Lieutenant General Shaul Mofaz is an Israeli former soldier and politician. He joined the Israel Defense Forces in 1966 and served in the Paratroopers Brigade. He fought in the Six-Day War, Yom Kippur War, 1982 Lebanon War, and Operation Entebbe with the paratroopers and Sayeret Matkal, an elite special forces unit. In 1998 he became the sixteenth IDF's Chief of the General Staff, serving until 2002. He is of Iranian Jewish ancestry.

Yitzhak Rabin was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77, and 1992 until his assassination in 1995.

Lt. Gen. Dan Shomron was the 13th Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), from 1987 to 1991.

Tzvi Tzur was an Israeli officer who served as the IDF's 6th Chief of Staff.

Moshe "Bogie" Ya'alon is an Israeli politician and former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, who also served as Israel's Defense Minister under Benjamin Netanyahu from 2013 until his resignation on 20 May 2016. Ya'alon ran for Knesset in 2019 as the number three member of the Blue and White party, a joint list created by the merging of the Israel Resilience Party, led by former IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz, and Yesh Atid, led by Yair Lapid. Ya'alon now serves as the number two on the Yesh Atid-Telem list that was created following the 2020 Israeli legislative election.

Yigael Yadin was an Israeli archeologist, soldier and politician. He was the second Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces and Deputy Prime Minister from 1977 to 1981.