Yehuda Fox

Yehuda Fox
Native name	יהודה פוקס
Born	(1969-04-10) 10 April 1969 Israel
Allegiance	Israel
Service/branch	Israel Defense Forces
Years of service	1987–present
Rank	Major general
Unit	Nahal Brigade
Commands held	931st Nahal infantry battalion, Judea Regional Brigade, IDF's Officer Candidate School, Nahal Brigade, head of the Paratroopers and Infantry Corps, Gaza Division, Military Attaché to the United States
Battles/wars	South Lebanon conflict (1985–2000) First Intifada Second Intifada Operation Defensive Shield 2006 Lebanon War Operation Cast Lead Operation Pillar of Defense Operation Protective Edge

Yehuda Fox (also Yehuda Fuchs, Hebrew: יהודה פוקס; born 10 April 1969) is an Israeli major general who commands the Central Command of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Previously, he commanded the Gaza Division of the (IDF).

Military career

Fox was drafted into the IDF in 1987. He volunteered as a paratrooper in the Paratroopers Brigade. He served as a soldier and a squad leader. He became an infantry officer after completing Officer Candidate School. Afterwards, he transferred to the Nahal Brigade and served as a platoon leader and as a company commander. Fox led the Brigade's anti-tank company in counter-guerrilla operations in South Lebanon, commanded a Nahal battalion in counter-terror operations in the Second Intifada. Later he commanded the Judea Regional Brigade (434th Territorial Brigade "Yehuda" of the Judea and Samaria Division), IDF's Officer Candidate School, and the Nahal Brigade. In 2014, he was appointed head of the Paratroopers and Infantry Corps, and in 2016, commander of the Gaza Division.

In 2019, Fox was appointed IDF's next military attaché in the United States. In 2021, he replaced the outgoing commander of Central Command. In April 2024, Israeli media has announced he is stepping down from his position in the summer; however, it did not specify the reason behind Fox’s planned resignation, which was announced hours after Aharon Haliva resigned over his failure to predict the Hamas attack.

Retirement

In his retirement speech in July 2024, Fox described his feelings of guilt in the face of the army’s failure in preventing October 7 massacre. He also criticised some of the Israeli settler leaders in the occupied West Bank:

“The great majority of settlers are law-abiding citizens who live in the shadow of the threat of terror... Unfortunately, in recent months, nationalist crime has reared its head under the cover of war and has led to revenge and sowed calamity and fear in Palestinian residents who do not pose any threat. To my dismay, the local leadership and the spiritual leadership for the most part did not see the threat as we did. It is intimidated and has not found the strength to come out openly and act in accordance with the values of Judaism... Even if the perpetrators are few in number, those who have remained silent have failed to isolate them and their actions from the majority. This isn’t Judaism in my eyes – at least it’s not the one I grew up with in my father’s and mother’s house.”

Gideon Levy in Haaretz described him as part of “the worst and most hypocritical group” of Israeli generals, and wrote on his relationship with the settlers in particular:

“In his eyes, the vast majority of them are law-abiding citizens. Nothing more needs to be said about Fuchs. Not a single settler abides by the law, certainly not international law – which, astonishingly enough, also applies to Israel... Fuchs was a friend of the settlers, like all the Central Command chiefs from Rehavam Ze'evi (1968-72) to himself, all of them the submissive slaves of the ‘hilltop people.’ ... Fuchs implemented a policy ... which included hundreds of arrest raids and dozens of brigade-level operations in the refugee camps and cities of the West Bank. He did so while making increasing use of attack drones for assassinations, a practice that was almost completely taboo until last summer.”