Gila Kalifi-Amir went from colonel to brigadier-general Monday, and will soon commence her new job as the IDF Chief of Staff’s Advisor on Women’s Matters. She will replace Brig.-Gen. Yehudit Grisaro, who is retiring after 28 years in the IDF.
Taking part in the ceremony for awarding Kalifi-Amir her new ranks were Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi and his Deputy Maj.-Gen. Dan Harel, other senior IDF officers and Kalifi-Amir’s proud family – including her husband, Maj.-Gen. Meir Kalifi, the Prime Minister’s Military Secretary.
Kalifi-Amir’s new rank makes her and her husband the most senior IDF couple ever.
Kalifi's proud family (husband Meir at back) and Chief of Staff Ashkenazi at the ceremony (Israel news photo: IDF website)
Brig.-Gen. Kalifi-Amir joined the IDF in 1981 and has since served in a number of command and staff posts in the ground forces and the General Staff. She served in command positons in the array for training of recruits. In 2003 she was promoted to the rank of colonel and was placed in command of Magal, which is in charge of the IDF’s entire recruit-training array.
Long command career
In the last three years she was Head of Infrastructure and Deployment Department in the Planning Division.
Brig.-Gen. Kalifi-Amir has a Master’s Degree in Political Science from Bar-Ilan University. She is a graduate of the National Security College and was the first woman to complete Battalion Commanders’ Course.
“Gila is a ground breaker,” Chief of Staff Ashkenazi said at the ceremony, “and what characterizes her is the ability to command, and the fact that she says what she thinks and fights for it.”
“Even if we appear to ourselves as being very advanced [with regards to advancing women – ed.] there is still a lot to do, and I hope that we do it in a good and rational way.
Earlier in the year, Ashkenazi wanted to cancel the position of the Chief of Staff’s Advisor on the Status of Women and unite it with another position. However, this initiative met protests from women’s groups and was not carried out.