Former senior police officer Yoram Halevi to become COGAT head next week

Retired senior police officer Yoram Halevi is promoted to the rank of major general ahead of entering the role of chief of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), Israel’s liaison body to the Palestinians.

A ceremony is held at the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, attended by Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, Defense Minister Israel Katz, and Halevi’s family.

On Wednesday next week, Halevi will replace Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian, who has served in the role for nearly five years.

Halevi, who held the rank of deputy commissioner in the Israel Police before retiring, previously headed the force’s Jerusalem and Southern districts, the Border Police, the Lahav 433 major crimes unit, and the elite Yamam counterterrorism unit, and served in other top roles.

It is unprecedented for a former senior police officer to be given a top role in the IDF.

“After 39 years of service, today I am once again putting on a uniform and joining the IDF General Staff Forum with deep humility. In recent months, I have studied the units of COGAT, the missions, and the sensitivities of the role,” Halevi says at the ceremony.

“At a time like this, with major challenges on all fronts, and with new mechanisms that are taking shape, the weight and importance of the unit are only growing. Alongside the complexities, there are also significant opportunities, and we must act to meet them with determination, responsibility, and professionalism,” he says.

COGAT is a Defense Ministry unit that oversees and coordinates humanitarian and civilian matters in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and, more recently, also in areas of southern Syria under IDF control. The unit’s commander is an IDF general who is a member of the military’s General Staff Forum.