Following a decision by IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz, Minister of Defense Ehud Barak approved on Thursday the appointment of Major General Yaacov Ayish as the new Defense Attaché to the USA and Canada.

Maj. Gen. Yaacov Ayish was born in December, 1962 in northern Israel. In 1981, he enlisted in the IDF Armored Corps as a combat soldier, later becoming an officer and a company commander. He participated in and commanded over various military operations throughout his service.

Maj. Gen. Ayish has a bachelor’s degree in political science from the Haifa University, and a master’s degree in business from the Tel Aviv University. He is married and a father of three sons and one daughter.

In 1990, Maj. Gen. Ayish was appointed commander of an armored battalion and received the rank of lieutenant colonel. Between 1991 and 1994 he served as deputy brigade commander and then as Operations Branch Commander at Northern Command.

Between 1996 and 1999, as a colonel, he was commander of the reserve armored brigade and of the training centers of both the Armored Corps and the Military Engineering Corps.

Between 1999 and 2001, Maj. Gen. Ayish held command over a brigade in Northern Command. Between 2002 and 2004, he served as the General Staff Operations Department Operations Division commander. He was then promoted to the rank of brigadier general.

He served as Head of the Ground Forces Headquarters between 2005 and 2008, during the Second Lebanon War and in the post-war rebuilding process. Before being appointed as the new Defense Attaché to the USA and Canada, he served as head of the Operations Directorate.