Turjeman, Sami

Sami (Shlomo) Turjeman was born in Marrakech , Morocco , in 1964 in the family of Yehuda and Elia Turjeman. He was one of nine children in the family ^[1] . At the age of six months, he repatriated with his family to Israel. Upon arrival in Israel, the Turjeman family settled on Yoseftal Street in the Shimshon district of Ashkelon ^[2] . Turjeman studied at Yeshurun ​​school and graduated from Rogozin school in Ashkelon, where he was the head of the student council ^[1] .

Military career

In 1982, Turjeman was called up to serve in the Israel Defense Forces and began serving in the Ha-Mahats armored brigade.

At the end of the officer courses, he was the commander of a tank platoon in the Ikvot ha-Barzel armored brigade, and then the commander of a tank company in the Bnei-Or armored training brigade. In 1992, he was appointed commander of the Ha-Bok'im tank battalion of the Iqvot ha-Barzel brigade.

Sami Turjeman (in the middle) during a visit to the northern border of Israel by the Chief of the IDF General Staff Beni Ganz (right); June 2011

In 1994, he was appointed commander of the operational department of the Ha-Plada armored division, and in 1996 - the commander of the reserve armored brigade, also serving as an instructor in the ( Hebrew קמ״פ-קמ״ג ) From 1997 to 1999 he was the head of the Department of Exercises in the Command of the Ground Forces.

In 1999, he headed the Kfir armored brigade, and in 2001, the Bnei-Or armored training brigade. In 2003, he was promoted to brigadier general and was appointed commander of the reserve armored division Netiv Hash ; he held this position until 2005. At the same time, since January 2004, he served as Chief Officer of the Armored Forces ( Hebrew קשנ״ר ).

He was further the head of the Operations Division ( Hebrew חטיבת המבצעים ) of the Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Army (took office during Operation First Rain in the Gaza Strip at the end of September 2005 ^[3] ), and from October 2007 to June 2009 year - the commander of the armored division " Gaash " of the Northern Military District ^[4] .

In September 2009, Turjeman was awarded the rank of Major General, and he was appointed head of the Command of the Ground Forces ( Heb. מז״י Masi ) ^[5] .

On January 20, 2013, the decision of the Minister of Defense to approve the order of the Chief of the General Staff Beni Ganz to appoint Turjeman as commander of the Southern Military District of the army was published ^[6] . On February 24, 2013, Turjeman transferred control of the Command of the Ground Forces to Major General Guy Tsur ^[7] , and on April 4, 2013 he took over the post of commander of the Southern Military District, replacing Major General Tal Russo ^[8] .

Under the command of Turjeman, the Southern Military District took part in Operation Unbreakable Rock in the Gaza Strip in July-August 2014.

On October 6, 2015, Turjeman transferred the command of the district to Major General Eyal Zamir ^[9] .

Education and personal life

During his service, Turjeman received a bachelor's degree from Bar-Ilan University (in the field of sociology), as well as a master 's degree in business administration and economics from Tel Aviv University .

He also graduated from the Command and Staff College and the National Security College of the Israel Defense Forces.

Married to Tali Turjeman, father of five children (two of them from their first marriage ^[1] ).

• אלוף שלמה תורג׳מן לקראת חוסר הוודאות (Major General Shlomo Turjeman, " On the Eve of Uncertainty "), Ynet (1.10.11) (Hebrew)

• Biography , on the website of the Israel Defense Forces ^[10] (Hebrew)
• Biography , on the old version of the Israel Defense Forces website
• Curriculum Vitae , Israeldefense (Hebrew)
• Announcement of the appointment of the head of the Command of the Ground Forces on the website of the Israel Defense Forces (6.9.09) (Hebrew)
• Biography , on the website of the Israeli armored forces (Hebrew)
• Interview with Sami Turjeman , on the Maariv-nrg website (author A. Bukhbut) (3.10.05) (Hebrew)