Amiram Levin

Levin entered the IDF in 1965, beginning his service as a paratrooper.[1] His subsequent appointments included command of Sayeret Matkal, command of a tank battalion during the First Lebanon War, and command of Northern Command.[3] He was wounded four times during his military career.[3]

On the night of April 9–10, 1973, Levin participated in Operation Spring of Youth, in which Israeli forces attacked PLO and Popular Front targets in Beirut and Sidon.[4] Ehud Barak, then commander of Sayeret Matkal, selected Levin as one of his team commanders; both men were among the commandos who disguised themselves as women.[4] The operation’s principal objectives included killing three senior PLO figures in Beirut.[4]

Levin and Barak stood guard outside the apartments targeted in the Beirut raids, while the commandos used disguises as women and tourists.[2] Wearing a blonde wig, Levin fired an Uzi at an intersection to help cover the force’s movement during an exchange with Lebanese police and reinforcements.[2] The Sayeret Matkal teams departed their targets in cars, and the operation lasted approximately half an hour rather than the anticipated 20 minutes.[2]

On May 15, 1974, Levin commanded the Sayeret Matkal rescue operation at Ma’alot.[5] The rescue ended with the deaths of the three terrorists and 25 hostages, including 22 children, while another 68 people were injured.[5] Recalling the speed of the assault and the loss of life, Levin said: “The whole operation took 30, 35 seconds…. If we’d been able to do it in 10, how many more could we have saved?”[5]

During the 1982 Battle of Kfar Sil, Levin served as a tank battalion commander attached to the Golani Brigade.[6] He later recalled that, after Israeli forces had stalled, he proposed to division commander Amos Yaron a surprise approach to the village from the rear.[6] In his account, he subsequently led his tank battalion into the fighting, and the Syrian position was captured after combat continued through the night.[6]

Levin became commander of Northern Command in 1994.[7] Retired Major General Gershon Hacohen later characterized Levin’s approach to southern Lebanon as an attempt to confront the dilemma of maintaining Israel’s security zone while also seeking to defeat Hezbollah.[7] Hacohen argued that Levin understood this dilemma but did not persuade the chief of staff and political leadership to adopt his view.[7] Levin’s recollection of his attitude while commanding in the north was captured in his customary answer to questions about how he was doing: “Here is best, facing the enemy and with my back to headquarters.”[3]

In 1998, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu selected Efraim Halevy to replace Danny Yatom as Mossad chief and planned for Levin, then Northern Command commander, to become Halevy’s deputy.[8] The announced arrangement envisaged Levin spending approximately a year learning the agency before taking over its directorship, with his arrival dependent on the appointment of a new Northern Command chief.[8] Levin subsequently served as deputy head of the Mossad; the announced succession plan was not itself an appointment as director.[2][8] His IDF service ended in 1998.[1]

Levin later supervised a report examining Northern Command’s performance in the 2006 Lebanon war.[9] The report criticized the command’s handling of operations and its inadequate preparation for prolonged rocket fire.[9] It faulted Northern Command chief Udi Adam for failing to press more assertively for a large-scale ground offensive, described the command’s fire plan as unfocused and its battles as scattered, and criticized Ground Forces chief Benny Gantz’s preparation of the forces.[9] Levin confirmed that he had submitted the report but declined to discuss leaked internal information.[9]

At a Tel Aviv rally before the 2015 election, Levin appeared alongside former Mossad director Meir Dagan and echoed Dagan’s warnings about Netanyahu’s leadership and Israel’s direction.[10] Addressing a March rally calling for a change in government, Levin declared: “We are in a war over the country’s character and over its very existence.”[10] He accused Netanyahu of failing to deliver security and cited the circumstances of residents in the Gaza border communities and Jerusalem.[10] The gathering drew approximately 80,000 people.[10]

In another account of his March 2015 public remarks, Levin argued that reaching agreements and ending Israeli rule over another people would strengthen Israel.[11] He said that Israel faced serious threats and casualties but no genuine existential threat, and maintained that progress toward agreements remained possible even without a comprehensive peace treaty.[11] He described the demonstration as nonpartisan and said that he had deliberately addressed settlers as well as other citizens.[11]

In December 2015, Levin purchased a half-page advertisement supporting Breaking the Silence, an organization that collects testimony from Israeli veterans about alleged abuses in the army.[12] He wrote that the group “guards IDF soldiers in the impossible place in which politicians have abandoned them.”[12] He argued that attempts to silence it harmed and weakened the IDF, and called on the military to encourage it and similar organizations to speak publicly within Israeli society.[12]

Levin entered the Labor Party leadership contest in 2017.[13] Describing himself as an underdog, he said in June that he had more than 4,000 supporters and argued that Labor needed a leader rather than another politician.[13] He criticized party leader Isaac Herzog and said that he had spent more than 30 years at important national decision-making points, including cabinet meetings with Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Rabin, Ehud Barak, and Ariel Sharon.[13] He also said he had tried to persuade Netanyahu to reduce the defense budget and transfer 25 percent to education.[13]

During the contest, Levin petitioned Labor’s Central Elections Committee to disqualify approximately 14,000 members, alleging that they had registered illegally.[14] On June 23, roughly two months after announcing his candidacy, he withdrew at a joint press conference and endorsed former minister Avi Gabbay.[15] Explaining the decision, he said: “Today begins the unification of the ranks in the party on the way to replacing Netanyahu.”[15]

In January 2019, Levin helped lead a protest by Druze Israelis and their supporters against the Nation-State Law, which had passed the previous July.[16] He argued that the law was unnecessary and did not contribute to Israel as a Jewish state.[16] At that time, he continued to serve in the reserves and was identified as a veteran of the Yom Kippur War and Operation Grapes of Wrath.[16]

At an August 2023 protest at Tel Aviv’s Kaplan junction, Levin addressed Likud ministers Yoav Gallant, Avi Dichter, and Nir Barkat, asking them to consider the legacy of fallen soldiers and whom they would choose as partners for Israel’s future.[17] He contrasted them with what he called “the gang of draft dodgers” and “a gang of outlaws and warmongers,” describing the moment as “the battle of our lives.”[17]

In October 2024, Levin said that he had assembled a hostage-return agreement that Hamas had accepted but that Israel’s leadership had declined to adopt.[18] His statement was an assertion about his own efforts, rather than an independently established account of an agreement’s terms or acceptance.[18]

In August 2026, Levin joined an investment in the Israeli agritech startup GreenOnyx and became a company director.[19] The company was partnering with Tiv Taam to market its Wanna Greens product.[19] Discussing his move into the venture, Levin said that he had spent “half of my adult life” in the IDF engaged in combat.[19]

Assessments of Levin’s military legacy have emphasized his influence on commanders as well as his senior appointments. A 2025 profile described him as a rare commander whose original thinking and demanding standards shaped Sayeret Matkal and a generation of officers who served under him during Israel’s years of fighting in Lebanon.[3]

His post-service activity has continued to draw on that security background, including his criticism of military preparedness, political campaigning, and participation in public protests.[9][17]

Levin’s responsibilities in the Tze’elim B training disaster became the subject of investigations and conflicting accounts of command authority.[20][21] On November 5, 1992, two live missiles struck soldiers playing the opposing force during an exercise, killing five and wounding six.[20] Levin, identified as the exercise planner, and Military Intelligence chief Uri Saguy received reprimands, while two other officers were prosecuted.[20] A review concluded that Levin and Saguy did not bear legal responsibility for the deaths but considered reprimands appropriate because senior officers should have ensured that safety-approval authority was clear.[20] Accounts of the inquiries differed over the command chain, Levin’s approval responsibilities, and the scope of his authority.[21]

In a December 2017 interview, Levin opposed returning to the 1967 lines while supporting an end to Israeli control over Palestinians in the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria.[22] He argued that such control “corrupts us,” while also favoring retention of settlement blocs and expanded Israeli control in certain areas.[22] His accompanying statement that Israel should “tear them apart” if Palestinians rejected a proposed state, and in a future war “kick them out to the other side of the Jordan River,” drew sharp criticism from Arab Israeli lawmakers.[22]

In August 2023, Levin described conditions in the West Bank as “absolute apartheid,” alleged that the IDF was “beginning to be a partner in war crimes,” and compared discriminatory practices he described in Hebron to policies in Nazi Germany.[1][23] Likud lawmaker Danny Danon rejected the comparison, while National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s office disputed Levin’s account of Ben Gvir’s military-service status.[23]