Embassy Departments • Consular/Visas • Directions •
Consulates in the US • Israeli Embassies around the World
Major General Dan Harel- IDF Defense and Armed Forces Attaché
Major General Dan Harel joined the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in 1974. After studying at the Israeli Air Force Flight School, he joined the Artillery Corps in 1976, where he served successfully in a wide variety of command positions in the field. His last post as Commander of SPH 155mm Artillery Battalion occurred during the 1982 "Peace of Galilee" operation. During those years, Harel fulfilled many instructional positions as well.
In 1990, Harel was appointed the Commander of a Reserve Artillery Regiment as well as Commander of the Divisional Artillery on the Israeli - Lebanese border, where he dealt with the intensive activity of terrorist organizations in that region. Later, he was appointed the Commander of the Artillery Regiment in the Golan Heights. By 1993, he became Chief of the Operations Department for the IDF General Staff - a position which led to him becoming Chief of the Artillery Corps two years later.
Harel was assigned as the Military Assistant to the Minister of Defense in 1998. In this capacity, he worked with Ministers Itzhak Mordechai and Moshe Arens. He also aided Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak. Following a tour as the Commander of an Armored Division in the Northern Command, General Harel was promoted to Major General and became the Head of the Operations Branch of the IDF in 2001. A crucial role, the heart of its activity was the violent confrontation with Palestinian terror in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip that erupted in 2000.
In 2003, MG Harel was appointed the Chief of the IDF Southern Command. During that period, MG Harel dealt (among other duties) with counter-terrorism operations in this critical region. During his last year of assignment, he was responsible for the Disengagement Operation from the Gaza Strip, and was elected 2005's "Man of the Year" in Israel.
MG Dan Harel assumed the duties of the Defense and Armed Forces Attaché in January 2006.
MG Dan Harel earned his bachelor's degree in Political Science from Haifa University. He is a graduate of the Advanced Artillery Officers' course of the US Armed Forces and of the Brigade Commanders Course in the IDF. Married to Iris, they have a son and two daughters.
