Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi was appointed Tuesday morning as the Israel Defense Forces' chief of staff, replacing Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, Trend reports referring to Haaretz.
Kochavi was promoted from deputy chief of staff by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a ceremony at the Israeli army headquarters in Tel Aviv, also attended by Eisenkot.
Kochavi, born in 1964, grew up in Kiryat Bialik in northern Israel. Kochavi studied Philosophy at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Public Administration at Harvard and International Relations at Johns Hopkins. He's the first vegan chief of staff.
"I take this job upon myself in sacred reverence, I take it as an honor," said Kochavi."It is an honor received with the help of others who are deserving of gratitude. To my parents who gave me my first compass, a moral compass."
"Soldiers and officers, the IDF is my second home," he said. "I love the organization and its soldiers. I intend to act together with the General Staff, in cooperation with all the levels of the organization, from a deep understanding of the strength of the people within it. Each soldier is a valuable asset that we have been entrusted with, and it is our duty to care for our charges. Similarly, we are responsible for the memory of the fallen, the support of grieving families, the wounded and the return of the missing."
"Now, as it is my turn, and I have received the responsibility of leading the army, I commit to dedicating all my energy, with a critical and demanding approach, to strengthening our defensive wall, to training for present and future threats – which focuses upon strengthening our attack capabilities towards our enemies, and presenting an army that is deadly, efficient and modern, that preserves its mission and it's uniqueness," added the incoming chief of staff.
"Like every soldier who enlists, I also vow to dedicate all my efforts to the defense of the homeland. Now as chief of general staff, when in front of me are the foundations of the national security and the good of the nation, I swear it anew. To the general staff, good luck to us all."