Moshe "Bogie" Ya'alon (born Moshe Smilansky on June 24, 1950, in Kiryat Haim, a working-class suburb of Haifa, Israel) is an Israeli politician and retired general who served as the Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) from 2002 to 2005 and as Israel's Minister of Defense from 2013 to 2016 under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Known for his centrist-hawkish security stance, Ya'alon played a key role in shaping Israeli security policy. He grew up in a family of Ukrainian-Jewish immigrants; his mother was a Holocaust survivor and his father a factory laborer, with the household aligned with the Mapai party, the dominant Labor Zionist faction. Ya'alon was active in the No'ar ha-Oved ve-ha-Lomed youth movement that emphasized communal values and Labor Zionism. After the Yom Kippur War in 1973, he rejoined the IDF for a military career, completing Officer Candidate School to become an infantry officer in the Paratroopers Brigade. His distinguished military service included roles as platoon leader, company commander in the brigade's 50th battalion, leader of the Reconnaissance Company during special operations such as Operation Litani in 1978, commander in the elite Sayeret Matkal commando unit during the 1982 Lebanon War, commander of the ground forces training facility at Tze'elim, commander of an armored division, and Head of Military Intelligence from 1995 to 1998. Transitioning to politics with the Likud party, he served in the Knesset and was Minister of Defense before resigning in 2016 amid internal party disputes and subsequently breaking with Likud. Since then, Ya'alon has remained an active commentator and critic of some government policies, especially on security and political issues in Israel.