Ariella Lazrovitch becomes 4th woman to serve on IDF General Staff
Newly appointed brigadier general, one of five currently in the army, will advise military on financial, budgetary issues
Judah Ari Gross is The Times of Israel's religions and Diaspora affairs correspondent.
The army appointed Brig. Gen. Ariella Lazrovitch as the military’s chief financial adviser on Thursday, making her the first woman to hold that position and one of four women to serve on the IDF General Staff.
At the ceremony, Lazrovitch received her official promotion to brigadier general from her former rank of colonel. She is the fifth woman currently serving in the IDF to hold that rank, alongside brigadier generals Meirav Kirschner, Ariella Ben-Avraham, Michal Teshuva and Sharon Nir.
Lazrovitch’s full title is financial adviser to the chief of staff and head of the Defense Ministry’s Budgets Department. She replaced Brig. Gen. Sasson Hadad, who has served in that position for the past three years. She leaves her position as head of the Ground Forces’ budget department.
A part of both the military and the Defense Ministry, the chief of staff’s financial adviser builds the army’s budget, in coordination with the IDF’s Planning Directorate and the Finance Ministry. In some cases, the adviser also works with the United States on issues pertaining to Israel’s aid package and joint defense projects.
This promotion makes Lazrovitch the fourth woman to serve on the IDF General Staff.
Ruth Yaron, who served as IDF spokesperson from 2002 to 2005, holds the distinction of being the first woman on the General Staff. She was immediately followed by now-Likud MK Miri Regev, who also served as IDF spokesperson, from 2005 to 2007.
In 2011, Orna Barbivai was named the IDF’s first major general. She led the army’s Manpower Directorate until 2014, when she was replaced by Maj. Gen. (res.) Hagai Topolanski.
For approximately three weeks, from mid December 2016 to early January 2017, Kirschner also served on the General Staff. She took over temporarily as head of the Manpower Directorate for Topolanski when he stepped down suddenly amid a scandal involving a military computer that was stolen from his home, until the current head of the directorate, Maj. Gen. Moti Almoz, took his position.
The Times of Israel Community.