Amir Eshel Aluf Amir Eshel ( born 1959 ) is a Pilot Officer in the Israel Defense Forces and current Commander in Chief of the Israeli Air Force . A Major - General since 2008 , Eshel is a former head of the IDF Planning Directorate . He succeeded Ido Nehoshtan as Commander in Chief of the Israeli Air Force on May 10 , 2012 . Biography . Born in 1959 , Eshel was drafted into the IDF in 1977 . After graduating from the IAF Flight Academy as a fighter pilot in 1979 , Eshel flew the A - 4 Skyhawk , first out of Etzion and then from Ramon . He also flew the Skyhawk during the 1982 Lebanon War . After serving with the flight academy as a combat instructor , Eshel went on to fly the F - 16 out of Ramat David Airbase . Between 1993 and 1995 Eshel commanded 201 Squadron at Tel Nof . Flying the " Kurnass 2000 " variant of the F - 4 Phantom II , Eshel led the squadron during Operation Grapes of Wrath . Between 1997 and 1999 Eshel headed the IAF ' s Operations Department . In 1999 Eshel was assigned command of Ramon Airbase . On December 16 , 1999 , while ferrying an AH - 64 Apache from Ramon to northern Israel , Eshel carried out a routine weapons systems check on the supposedly unarmed helicopter , accidentally firing an AGM - 114 Hellfire which narrowly missed a group of IAF reserve soldiers nearby . The incident , for which he fined himself , was written up in his record , but did not prevent further promotion . In 1999 Eshel was assigned command of Tel Nof . Eshel , the son of Holocaust survivors , in September 2003 led a formation of three IAF F - 15 Eagle s on a fly - over of the Auschwitz death camp . As it flew above the camp , Eshel broadcast a message to an IDF ceremony taking place below : Eshel later explained that " We ' re talking about a personal dream of 15 years . . . This is the most significant expression of the rebirth of this nation . As the IAF , we are the most concrete expression of the might of the Jewish people and there ' s no one better than us to express it " . The Israeli delegation had been in Poland on the occasion of the Polish Air Force ' s 85th anniversary and had participated in the Radom Air Show . In 2004 Eshel became head of the IAF ' s Air Group , commanding all operational assets and in January 2006 was appointed IAF Chief of Staff , a role he filled during the 2006 Lebanon War . Eshel was subsequently credited with the improvements to air - ground integration implemented after the war . On March 27 , 2008 , he was promoted to the rank of Major General and appointed head of the IDF ' s Planning Directorate . He replaced Ido Nehoshtan , which had just been appointed Commander in Chief of the IAF . On February 5 , 2012 , Eshel was announced as Nehoshtan ' s successor as Commander in Chief of the Israeli Air Force , when the latter completed his tenure in May 2012 . The other candidates were the Military Secretary to the Prime Minister , Maj . Gen . Yohanan Locker , and IAF Chief of Staff , Brig . Gen . Nimrod Shefer . Eshel is married and a father of 3 . He holds a degree in economics from Auburn University , Alabama , and a degree in political science from the University of Haifa ’ s National Security Studies Center .