Yehuda Halevy is New Israel Bonds President

Brig. Gen. Yehuda Halevy will assume the post of president and chief executive officer of the Israel Bond Organization on January 1, it was announced here by Sam Rothberg, general chairman of the Bond Organization. Yitzhack Roger, who has served as president of the organization for the past three years, is returning to Israel after completing his term.

Halevy rose from the ranks to become a Brigadier General in the Israel Defense Force from which he is now retiring. He has fought in all of Israel’s wars and was on active service during “Operation Peace for Galilee” in Lebanon during which he played a key role in rapidly mobilizing civilian reserves who make up the bulk of the IDF.

During the Yom Kippur War in 1973, he served in the Sinai. Earlier, during the Six-Day War of 1967, he was with the elite Seventh Brigade, the first brigade to reach the Suez Canal. He held a series of command and staff positions in the Armored Corps, the Southern Command and the Manpower Division.

Born in Shanghai in 1937, to Iraqi parents, Halevy came to Israel in 1949. He went to high school at night and worked during the day. At the age of 18 he entered the army and has spent his adult life in the IDF. He graduated magna cum laude from Bar llan University, and married a sabra who was a sergeant and judo instructor in the IDF. They have two sons, one of whom is now serving in the army.

Halevy helped institute a special army education project which helped “marginal youth” otherwise exempted from service. As one of those involved in this program, he pointed out that the experience of army duty was a common denominator of responsible Israeli citizenship and that inclusion of these youth is in the essential interest of the individual and Israeli society.