SHOMRON, DAN

SHOMRON, DAN (1937– ). Israeli soldier, thirteenth chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces. Shomron was born in   kibbutz Ashdot Ya'akov in the Jordan Valley. His military career began in 1956 when he was a paratrooper. During the Six-Day War of 1967 he commanded an armored division in Sinai, and later served as commander of the southern front. The entebbe raid in 1976, later renamed "Operation Yonatan," in which hostages from an Air France flight hijacked en route from Tel Aviv to Paris were rescued from Entebbe Airport near Kampala, Uganda, was under the command of Shomron, then a brigadier general, who also planned the operation. After occupying various staff positions, he became deputy chief of staff. In early 1987 he was named chief of staff, taking up the position in April of that year and serving until 1991. During his years as chief of staff he had to deal with the first intifada, which began in late 1987, and with the first Gulf War in 1991. After his retirement he served as chairman of Israel's Military Industries and then went into private business.