Doron Almog

Almog was born in Rishon LeZion on May 18, 1951. He graduated from the Hebrew Reali School in Haifa in 1969, completed a military boarding school, and enlisted in the IDF’s Paratroopers Brigade, serving as a fighter and officer in the 202nd Battalion.[1] He later earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Tel Aviv University in 1997 and a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Haifa in 1998. The Jewish Agency biography lists an MBA from Tel Aviv University and an MA in international relations from the University of Haifa, and describes him as a former Senior Research Fellow at Harvard; the Israel Prize biography identifies his research posts as senior researcher at Howard University and the Washington Institute.[1][2]

Almog’s family history became closely connected to his military service and later social work. His younger brother Eran commanded a tank unit on the Golan Heights during the Yom Kippur War and was killed in the fighting, while Almog commanded a paratrooper company on the Sinai front.[1] Almog later recalled finding his brother’s burned tank and learning that Eran had been left wounded on the battlefield and recovered seven days later. He said this experience led him to vow that he would not leave a wounded soldier behind.[7]

Almog and his wife, Didi, had children named Nitzan, Eran, and Shoham. Their daughter Shoham was born in 1991 and died one month later; their son Eran was born with autism and a severe intellectual disability.[1] Eran later lived at the rehabilitation village his parents established, which was named in his memory. The sources differ on whether he died in 2006 or 2007; several accounts, including the Israel Prize biography, give 2007 and say he was 23.[1][8]

Almog began IDF service in 1969 and remained in the military until 2003, rising to the rank of major general. Accounts describe his career as spanning four wars and including combat, clandestine operations, and senior command assignments.[1][3] Published estimates of its duration vary: the Israel Prize biography calls it 35 years, while a later profile describes it as about 34 years.[1][9]

In February 1973, Almog commanded a task force operating in Tripoli, Lebanon, against those responsible for the murder of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics. The Israel Prize biography describes it as the first Israeli government-initiated operation to strike the perpetrators.[1] Later in 1973, during the Yom Kippur War, he commanded a Paratroopers company from the 202nd Battalion in Sinai. The unit fought Egyptian forces and played a central role in defeating Egyptian armor at the Battle of Wadi Mabouk on October 14, according to the Israel Prize biography.[1] His brother Eran was killed while commanding a tank unit on the Golan Heights during the same war.[1]

In 1976, Almog commanded the Paratroopers Reconnaissance Unit and led its soldiers in the Entebbe rescue mission in Uganda. His unit was the first Israeli force to land and operate at the airport, enabling the military aircraft that followed to land.[1][4] Almog later recalled jumping from the first Hercules transport, marking the runway, and moving to capture the airport control tower.[1] The Jewish Agency and the Center for Israel Education likewise describe him as leading the first task force or being the first soldier on the ground during the operation.[4][2]

During the First Lebanon War in 1982, Almog commanded the Paratroopers Brigade training base and led the 35th Brigade’s reconnaissance battalion from its landing near the mouth of the Awali River toward Beirut. A profile says the battalion marched approximately 70 kilometers to reach the city.[1][10] He later commanded Shaldag, an elite IDF unit, from 1982 to 1984. The unit took part in clandestine operations in southern Sudan to bring Ethiopian Jews to Israel, preceding Operations Moses and Solomon; accounts also describe Almog’s involvement in efforts to bring Ethiopian Jews from Sudan to Israel.[1][10]

On November 20, 1983, Almog led a Shaldag force into Beirut to rescue Israeli air force pilot Lieutenant Colonel Miki Lev.[1] His military assignments then included commander of the Paratroopers Brigade in 1988, commander of the Fire Formation in 1990, and Chief Infantry and Paratroop Officer in 1991. The Washington Institute describes him as commanding a paratrooper brigade in southern Lebanon from 1988 to 1990 during fighting against Hezbollah bases.[1][11]

Almog was later appointed commander of the Gaza Division. In 1993, he commanded IDF forces in Gaza during a period in which they fought Palestinian terrorism and withdrew from approximately 80 percent of the territory, as described in the Washington Institute’s account.[11] In 1996 he became head of the IDF General Headquarters’ Doctrine and Training Division, where he established annual doctrinal seminars and a simulation-game system for strategic decision-making. The Israel Prize biography dates his leadership of the division from 1997 to 2000.[1][11]

At the end of 2000, Almog became commander of the IDF Southern Command, a post he held until July 2003. The Washington Institute describes the command’s Gaza campaign as combining defensive and offensive operations and says it prevented attempted breaches of the security barrier around Gaza.[3] That characterization reflects the source’s framing of a contested conflict. Almog left the IDF in 2003, after a career that also included command of the Gaza Division and senior roles in infantry and paratrooper forces.[1][9]

Alongside his military command positions, Almog pursued academic and research work on security and strategy. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Tel Aviv University and a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Haifa.[1] The Jewish Agency’s biography describes him as a former Senior Research Fellow at Harvard, while the Israel Prize biography names Howard University and the Washington Institute as institutions where he was a senior researcher.[1][2] The available accounts do not reconcile the difference in the institutional descriptions.

Almog published books and studies on security and strategy.[2] His work in the IDF Doctrine and Training Division also included the establishment of annual doctrinal seminars and a simulation-game system intended for strategic decision-making.[11] After leaving the military, he founded Kairos Integrated Solutions, a homeland-security consultancy, in 2009.[1]

His public roles extended into several areas of Israeli civic and institutional life. He chaired a military committee investigating the 2006 abduction of IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, headed the staff implementing a plan concerning Bedouin settlement in the Negev in 2011, and chaired the Israel Security Prize Committee that year.[1] The Jewish Agency biography also lists his service on councils, committees, and boards connected with nature protection, Bedouin economic development in the Negev, and scholarships for former lone soldiers.[2] From 2015, he chaired the Reducing Gaps Association.[1]

After leaving the IDF, Almog turned his attention to improving care for people with special needs. The Israel Prize biography says the idea for a rehabilitation village in the Negev took shape when he learned that his son Eran and other adults with significant disabilities would have no suitable framework after age 21. Almog considered existing options neglected and poorly maintained.[1]

Almog and his wife established the rehabilitation village that became known as Adi Negev–Nahalat Eran, also rendered in some accounts as Aleh Negev–Nachalat Eran. Named for their son, it was created to provide residential and outpatient care for children, teenagers, and young adults with severe disabilities.[1][2] The Jewish Agency describes it as the first such rehabilitation facility in the Negev and as a pioneer in opportunities for young people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.[2]

The village’s first residents entered in 2006, including Eran, who died a few months later of a serious illness, according to the Israel Prize biography.[1] Other accounts give different dates for the village’s establishment or construction: reports variously describe it as built in 2003 or founded in 2006. The sources may be referring to different stages of its development, but do not establish one consistent founding date.[1][12] Accounts also differ on Eran’s year of death, with several giving 2007 and one 2022 report giving 2006.[8][13]

The rehabilitation village was designed to support people with brain injuries and other significant disabilities through individualized equipment, programs, therapies, care, education, and employment. The Israel Prize committee described its purpose as enabling residents to live with dignity and cited the initiative as an ethical and Zionist contribution: the village’s location in the Negev connected care for people with special needs to the development of the region and responsibility toward the surrounding community.[1]

Services described in the sources include residential and nursing care, paramedical rehabilitation, education, hydrotherapy, kindergarten, and employment programs.[1] Figures for the number of people served vary across accounts and periods. The Israel Prize page gives 121 in the committee’s account and 140 in a separate biographical section; a 2019 report described 145 residents, alongside 450 staff members and more than 750 volunteers from 12 countries.[1][10] A 2026 interview described a broader complex that included residential care, special education, a rehabilitation hospital, research, and employment programs, and reported that it treated 3,000 people, including 175 children with severe brain injuries.[14]

In 2019, the village was reported to be planning a rehabilitation hospital in the south and a neuroscience rehabilitation research laboratory developed with Ben-Gurion University.[10] The available report presented these as plans at that time. Almog continued to chair the village’s association after taking on the Jewish Agency role.[6][15]

Almog and his wife also worked to raise public awareness of the challenges faced by people with intellectual disabilities and advocated for their inclusion in society.[8] In accepting the Israel Prize, Almog appealed for a more tolerant and inclusive society. He urged the public to ask what society could and should do for people who cannot act independently, rather than focusing only on what those individuals can do for themselves.[13]

In July 2022, the Jewish Agency’s Board of Governors elected Almog chairman of the organization’s Executive, following a period of about a year without a permanent leader.[15] He assumed the position on August 21, succeeding Isaac Herzog after being selected for a four-year term.[4][6] The Agency reported that he began his first day in the role by meeting 180 young immigrants at Ulpan Etzion in Jerusalem.[6]

At the time of his selection, Almog said he was proud and excited and emphasized the importance of relations between Israel and world Jewry.[8] At the election, he also described priorities that included increasing aliyah and absorption, strengthening connections with Jewish communities around the world, and supporting disadvantaged groups in Israeli society.[16]

In an address marking his appointment, Almog connected the role to personal commitments shaped by the deaths of his brother and son. He called the new responsibility his “third commitment” and described it as a new Jewish journey: “for the entire Jewish people, to reach the heart of every Jew on Earth and to instill pride in our Judaism and the State of Israel.”[5] He framed the Jewish Agency’s work as a way to strengthen Jewish connections worldwide as well as support immigration to Israel.[5]

Following the Hamas attack of October 7, Almog led Jewish Agency efforts to mobilize support from Jewish communities abroad, according to a 2025 profile. Reported activities included aid to families affected by the attacks, support for displaced communities, emergency grants and loans for business owners and reservists, assistance for lone immigrant soldiers, demonstrations of support abroad, and international activity on behalf of hostages.[17] The profile also described a “Uniformed Emissaries” initiative that sent soldiers and officers who had fought in the war to Jewish communities.[17] A 2026 profile continued to identify Almog as chairman of the Jewish Agency Executive, a role he had held since 2022.[14]

In 2016, Almog received the Israel Prize for lifetime achievement and special contribution to society and the state. The award committee cited both his military service and his work to improve care for people with special needs, emphasizing the rehabilitation village’s role in enabling residents with brain injuries to live with dignity.[1][13] The Jewish Virtual Library’s list of Israel Prize recipients records him as the 2016 recipient in the lifetime-achievement and special-contribution category.[18]

The award recognized two strands of his public life: a long military career that culminated in command of the Southern Command, and a later effort to change the care available to Israelis with special needs.[1][13] The village’s approach joined individualized care and opportunities for residents with a broader commitment to developing the Negev and sharing responsibility with the surrounding community.[1]

Almog was an Independence Day torchbearer in 2006 in recognition of his contribution to the development of the Negev.[5][19] The Jewish Agency reports that 15 organizations and businesses awarded him prizes or honors for his social contributions.[2] His later work in the Agency’s leadership extended his public role from military command and rehabilitation work to engagement with Jewish communities and immigration to Israel.[16]

The personal history associated with the rehabilitation village is central to accounts of Almog’s legacy. The project was named for his son Eran, whose needs helped prompt Almog and his wife to establish a framework intended to offer people with significant disabilities care, education, rehabilitation, and a dignified life.[1][13] In his 2022 address, Almog presented his Jewish Agency appointment as a further commitment shaped by the losses of his brother and son and directed toward the Jewish people as a whole.[5]

In September 2005, a British arrest warrant was issued in connection with allegations of war crimes relating to Almog’s conduct as Southern Command chief in Gaza. One account links the warrant to the demolition of a Palestinian home, which Palestinian activists alleged amounted to a war crime; Almog denied the allegations.[20][21] After learning that British police were waiting with the warrant at Heathrow, Almog remained aboard the El Al aircraft and returned to Israel. The warrant later lapsed or was rescinded, and the Times of Israel reported that the British foreign secretary apologized.[20][21] The episode involved allegations, not a finding of guilt.

NGO Monitor describes the legal action as an instance of “lawfare” and identifies the Palestinian Center for Human Rights and Yesh Gvul as initiators; that characterization reflects the organization’s advocacy position.[22] The sources consulted for this account do not include an independent court record. Separately, the Washington Institute’s description of the Gaza campaign under Almog’s command reflects its own framing of a politically contested conflict.[3]