Background
Ron-Tal was born on Netiv HaLamed-Heh, a kibbutz in the Elah valley in central Israel.
Ron-Tal was born on Netiv HaLamed-Heh, a kibbutz in the Elah valley in central Israel.
Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Drafted in 1974 into the Israeli Armored Corps, he is a former commander of the Israel Defense Forces Ground Forces Command. He hinted that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert should do the same. He also said that employing the Israel Defense Forces to evacuate settlers from the Gaza Strip Israeli Settlements in 2005 was a grave mistake because it had seriously degraded the army"s combat capabilities.
Following these remarks, he was discharged from the Israel Defense Forces while on leave after 33 years of service, two months prior to retirement.
The Israeli media reported though that Ron-Tal had sent a letter of resignation prior to being fired. While the comments themselves were not the most vitriolic heard since the end of the Israel-Hezbollah war, Ron-Tal was roundly criticized for making them while still in uniform.
He was the second general officer to criticize Halutz while in uniform over the war, the first being Ilan Harari. Ron-Tal serves as head of the Israel Electric Corporation, after having headed the Israel Portuguese Authority.
Even though Ron-Tal was on a final leave of absence before leaving the army, orders state that active soldiers are forbidden from giving interviews to the media without permission from the Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson"s Unit, especially resenting opinions about the army and politics. In a previous controversial interview in 2003, he had advocated the liquidation of PLO chairman Yasser Arafat.
Quotations: "Those who directed this war must take responsibility,".