Ten Things You Didn't Know About Yoav Gallant

Yoav Gallant is known to most as Israel's former defense minister and as an IDF aluf. But long before he reached the Knesset or the Defense Ministry, he was a teenager from Jaffa, a fighter in Shayetet 13, and even a logger in Alaska.

Today (Sunday), Gallant marks his 68th birthday, an occasion to revisit some of the lesser-known chapters of a life that has taken him from the forests of the American north to the command rooms of the Shin Bet.

1. He is named after a military operation

Yoav Gallant's name comes from a battle his father fought. Michael Gallant served in the War of Independence with the "Samson's Foxes" unit and took part in Operation Yoav. He was the first soldier to break into the Iraq Suwaydan police station. When his son was born in 1958, he named him Yoav after the operation in which he had fought.

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2. His mother was on the Exodus

Gallant's parents carry their own history. His mother, Fruma, was a Holocaust survivor from Poland who boarded the famous refugee ship Exodus on its way to Israel. The British turned the ship back to Europe with all its passengers, and only in 1948 did she succeed in reaching the country. His father, too, endured the war years, fighting the Nazis as a partisan in the forests of Eastern Europe.

3. He asked which unit had the hardest training — and joined it

When Gallant arrived at the draft office in 1976, he decided to go for the toughest option available. According to his own account, he simply asked the sorting officer which IDF unit had the most difficult training. When the answer came back as Shayetet 13, he decided to enlist there. He would later go on to command the unit.

4. He left the army to chop wood in Alaska

Before he became an IDF aluf and defense minister, Gallant worked as a logger. In 1982, after serving in Shayetet 13, he was released from the army and flew to Alaska, where he made his living chopping wood. He was still there when the First Lebanon War broke out. In 1984 he returned to Israel and to military service.

5. At 21, he commanded a force in Lebanon

In 1980, when he was only 21 years old, Gallant took part in a Shayetet 13 operation against a terrorist base in Lebanon. During the mission, the force commander was wounded, and the young Gallant was forced to take command in his place. He led the fighters and saw to the evacuation of the wounded, all while under fire. Years later, he recounted that moment when he found himself responsible for the entire force.

6. He was already chosen as IDF chief — but the appointment was canceled

Believe it or not, Gallant was on his way to becoming the 20th chief of staff of the IDF. In 2010, the government approved his appointment, and the position seemed secure. But then the land affair surrounding his home in Moshav Amikam hit the headlines. Following findings by the state comptroller and an opinion from the attorney general, the decision was made to cancel the appointment. In the end, the position went to Benny Gantz.

7. He tried to capture a senior Hamas figure

In 2008, when Gallant was commander of the Southern Command, he advanced a special operation to capture Ahmed Jabari, a senior Hamas official. A special force entered the Gaza Strip and waited for the vehicle in which Jabari was supposed to travel. Gallant himself commanded the operation from the Shin Bet operations room in Tel Aviv. But Jabari changed his route, and the force was compelled to return to Israel without completing the mission.

Yoav Gallant (Yoav Gallant (Photo: Yonatan Sindel, Flash90))

8. His son also served in Shayetet 13

Gallant is not the only one in the family to have reached Shayetet 13. His son, Michael, decided to follow in his father's footsteps, enlisted in the elite unit, and served there as an officer. Gallant is married to Claudine, and the two have three children: a son and two daughters. The family lives in Moshav Amikam, near Zichron Yaakov.

9. His sister is an author

Not everyone knows that Gallant has a younger sister named Yael Ichilov, and she works in writing. While her brother built a military career and later entered politics, Ichilov chose the world of literature and became an author.

10. He started his political career in a different party

Today everyone knows Gallant as a Likud man, but it turns out he actually began his political career in Moshe Kahlon's Kulanu party. In 2015 he joined the party, was placed second on its list, and was elected to the Knesset. He was later appointed minister of construction and housing, and only in 2019 did he decide to move to Likud. A few years after that, he was appointed defense minister.