Retired Israeli general combats stereotypes
In an interview with Al-Monitor, retired Brig. Gen. Israela Oron emphasizes that contrary to traditional Israeli perception, men have no superiority over women in matters of security.
Retired Brig. Gen. Israela Oron has spent almost 30 years in the army. During her military career and later in civilian life, she held a long list of key posts. In many, she was the first woman in the job, the one who broke the Israeli glass ceiling of uniquely male preserves.
That was the case in 1991, during the Gulf War, when she headed the operations department of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman unit and was the first woman to be appointed deputy spokesperson. The same was true when she began teaching at the National Defense College and again when she was named deputy director of the National Security Council.
Oron, a native of the former Soviet Union, moved to Israel as a young child. To many, she represents the Israeli immigrants' success story — a woman who made it to the top echelon of the mainly Sabra-born military, serving as IDF Women’s Corp commander.
She has been closely associated with Zionist Camp Co-Chair Tzipi Livni since she was her commander in the army, and she currently heads the campaign headquarters of the top woman in the Zionist Camp.
