Lt. Gen. Chaim Bar Lev (1968-1972)

Chaim Bar Lev was born in Austria in 1924 and made aliyah in 1939. In 1942, he joined the ranks of the Palmach and was trained as a squad commander. Later he was trained as a platoon commander in the Hagana organization and commanded a platoon in Beit Haarava.

In 1946 he took part in the framework of the Hebrew Resistance Movement, in an operation known as the "Night of the Bridges" and commanded the operation to blow up the Allenby Bridge. At the beginning of the War of Independence (1947), he was appointed commander of the Palmach's eighth battalion in the Negev Brigade and was responsible for securing the settlements in the south and the waterfront in the region. He later took part in the battles to halt the invasion of the Egyptian army and during the first ceasefire became the operations officer of the Negev Brigade. Later on in the war he lead the Ninth Battalion in the brigade in the fight against the Egyptian army as part of Operation Horev. In 1950 he commanded the advanced commanding courses in the IDF. In 1952 he served as head of the Northern Command Staff. In 1954 he was appointed commander of the Givati ​​Brigade. During his term in office, he was responsible for the "Yarkon" operation, in which a traffic route was secretly inspected in the Sinai Peninsula. In 1956 he stood at the Head of the Training Department in the General Staff, and was also in charge of a reserve armored brigade. During the Sinai War in he led the brigade in the fight along the Egyptian coastline, penetrating the Egyptian alignment in the Gaza Strip, capturing El Arish and reaching the Suez Canal. In 1957 he commanded the Armored Corps with the rank of Major General. During his term in office more Centurion tanks were added to the corps and the combat doctrine for the Armored Forces developed. In 1961 he studied at Columbia University. In 1964 he served as head of the Staff Branch. In 1966 he studied in France. On the eve of the Six-Day War (1967), he was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff.

In 1968 he served as the IDF's eighth Chief of Staff. During his tenure was the War of Attrition. He led the IDF's fighting against the Egyptian army along the Suez Canal and the Palestinian terrorist organizations on the eastern border and the Gaza Strip. Under his command a line of fortifications was built along the Suez Canal (the Bar-Lev line) and invasions were carried out to  the neighboring Arab states.

In 1972 he resigned from the IDF. He was appointed Minister of Trade and Industry in the government headed by Golda Meir and Yitzhak Rabin, and during the Yom Kippur War he was sent to assist the Northern Command and later commanded the fighting on the southern front until the cease-fire. In 1977 he served as a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the Knesset. In 1984 he served as Minister of Police in national unity governments. In 1990 he served as a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. In 1992 he served as Israel's Ambassador in Russia. He passed away in 1994.