Yaakov Amidror

Amidror was born in Yad Eliyahu, Israel, on the day after the Israeli Declaration of Independence. His father, Leo, had enlisted in the British Army during World War II, and spent five years in German captivity after being taken prisoner in Greece. His mother, Tzila, was an Irgun member, active in the organization's finance department, who had been arrested by the British in 1941, and incarcerated at the Bethlehem Women's Prison.{{cite news|title=The Man Who's Not Afraid to Go Against the Flow|author=Avi Benayahu|date=26 November 2013|work=The Post|language=he|url= http://www.thepost.co.il/news/new.aspx?pn6Vq=EE&0r9VQ=EIFDH|access-date=23 December 2013}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.daat.ac.il/daat/history/hayom/5-2.htm|title=שער חמישי - נשים במעצר}}

Amidror was drafted into the Israeli Defense Forces in 1966. He volunteered as a paratrooper in the Paratroopers Brigade. He served as a soldier and a squad leader, and fought in the Gaza Strip during the Six-Day War.Yaakov Amidror, [http://jcpa.org/requirements-for-defensible-borders/foreign_peacekeeping_forces/ The Risks of Foreign Peacekeeping Forces in the West Bank], the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, 2014. He became an infantry officer after completing Officer Candidate School and returned to the Paratroopers Brigade as a platoon leader. Afterwards he transferred to the Military Intelligence Directorate and served in various positions such as a regional brigade Intelligence officer during the War of Attrition, the 162nd Division Intelligence officer during the Yom Kippur War, the Northern Command Intelligence officer, and as the head of the Research Department. Amidror was considered a candidate to lead the Military Intelligence Directorate, but he was passed over after he controversially referred to non-religious Israelis as "Hebrew-speaking gentiles". Instead, he became president of Israel's National Defense College before retiring from his military career in 2002.{{cite news|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4039837,00.html|title=Amidror new national security advisor|author=Attila Somfalvi|date=9 March 2011|work=Ynetnews|access-date=23 December 2013}}

Amidror was selected to draw up the list of candidates for the Religious Zionist The Jewish Home party in the lead-up to the elections for the 18th Knesset. Amidror became enmeshed in internecine fighting within the party, and with competing right-wing factions. He clashed particularly with MK Uri Ariel, calling him a "liar" and a "cheater".{{cite news|url=http://www.israelhayom.co.il/site/newsletter_article.php?id=1281|title=Burn the House|author1=Mordechai Gilat |author2=Uzi Dayan |date=14 January 2009|work=Israel Today|language=he|access-date=23 December 2013}}{{cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/at-habayit-hayehudi-ideology-is-one-thing-and-politics-is-quite-another-1.260195|title=At Habayit Hayehudi, ideology is one thing - and politics is quite another|author=Nadav Shragai|date=25 December 2008|work=Haaretz|access-date=23 December 2013}}

He was appointed to lead Israel's National Security Council in May 2011{{cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/netanyahu-appoints-new-national-security-adviser-ya-akov-amidror-1.348140|title=Netanyahu appoints new national security adviser, Ya'akov Amidror Israel News|author=Barak Ravid|date=9 March 2011|work=Haaretz|access-date=23 December 2013}} and held the position until November 2013.

As Israel's national security advisor, he participated in high-level talks with U.S. officials about the Iranian nuclear program and led efforts to restore relations with Turkey after the Gaza flotilla raid incident.{{cite news|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/amidror-to-leave-post-as-netanyahu-aide-in-august/|title=Netanyahu's top security adviser set to quit after bust-up|author=Aaron Kalman|date=23 June 2013|work=The Times of Israel|access-date=23 December 2013}}{{cite news|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/turkey-and-israel-close-in-on-reconciliation-deal/|title=Turkey and Israel close in on reconciliation deal|last=Michal Shmulovich|date=6 May 2013|work=The Times of Israel|access-date=23 December 2013}}

Amidror is considered a hawk on security matters. He wrote an op-ed in The New York Times opposing the Geneva interim agreement on the Iranian nuclear program.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/28/opinion/the-iran-agreement-does-not-address-the-nuclear-threat.html|title=A Most Dangerous Deal|author=Yaakov Amidror|date=27 November 2013|work=The New York Times|access-date=23 December 2013}} However, he has also warned privately that Israel's settlement policy was isolating it from the international community.{{cite web|url=http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2013/02/07/Israeli-settlements-causing-isolation/UPI-36391360235419/|title=Yaakov Amidror is said to be concerned over Israel's growing isolation|date=7 February 2013|publisher=United Press International|access-date=23 December 2013}}

In 2014, Amidror joined the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies. In 2017, he became the Anne and Greg Rosshandler Senior Fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies.

In 2016, Amidror chaired an official panel charged with providing recommendations to improve the functioning of Israel's National Security Council and cabinet ministers during wartime.{{cite news|last1=Tuchfeld|first1=Mati|title=New advisory body to offer cabinet routine security briefings – Israel Hayom|url=http://www.israelhayom.com/2016/12/20/new-advisory-body-to-offer-cabinet-routine-security-briefings/|access-date=28 May 2018|work=Israel Hayom|date=20 December 2016}}

In June 2020, Amidror cautioned against Netanyahu's plan to annex portions of the West Bank.{{Cite web|title=Retired IDF general raises concerns over West Bank annexation|url=https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/retired-idf-general-raises-concerns-over-west-bank-annexation-630679|access-date=2020-06-08|website=The Jerusalem Post {{!}} JPost.com}}

{{reflist}}

• {{in lang|he}} [http://www.ynet.co.il/headlines/1,7340,L-3974,00.html Columns written by Yaakov Amidror] at Ynet
• {{cite book|author=Yaakov Amidror|title=Winning Counterinsurgency War: The Israeli Experience|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FoiVqtP1TpAC|series=Strategic Perspectives|volume=2|year=2008|publisher=Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs|location=Jerusalem|isbn=9789652180629}}
• {{cite book|author=Yaakov Amidror|editor=Mark El-Ami|title=Hamas, the Gaza War and Accountability, Under International Law: Updated Proceedings of an International Conference on June 18, 2009|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V7Gz-bIZTPMC&pg=PA47|year=2011|publisher=Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs|location=Jerusalem|isbn=9789652180902|pages=47–48|chapter=International Law and Military Operations in Practice}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amidror, Yaakov}}

Category:Israeli generals

Category:1948 births

Category:Living people

Category:University of Haifa alumni

Category:Tel Aviv University alumni

Category:Members of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America