TEL AVIV, Israel — Another Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) figure will be sworn into Israel's 20th Knesset come the end of the month, but this one plans to resign from the company before then.
Eyal Ben-Reuven, a major general in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reserves, has served as IAI chief coordinator for land systems for the past year. A former Armored Corps commander and head of Israel's National Security College, Ben-Reuven is the firm's leading professional authority on land warfare; an area that firm has tapped as a priority growth sector.
Ranking 24 27 in Israel's opposition Zionist Union Party, Ben-Reuven just made the cutoff for the number of seats in the next Knesset to be led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's political rival and former frontrunner, Yitzhak Herzog.
"I joined politics just a month and a half ago to help advance the need for a diplomatic initiative as a prerequisite to security," Ben-Reuven told Defense News.
"There's three story lines we need to focus on: the Palestinians, the region at large and Israel's international legitimacy. A diplomatic means of meeting the nexus of those lines is something I aim to fight for," he said.
Ben-Reuven's second priority is to support communities in the Galilee region up north, where he resides, and throughout the Negev desert region. "I want to focus on the periphery; not settlements… And then there's the whole subject of defense. All of these are close to my heart."
Ben-Reuven noted that he has been contracted with IAI as an adviser to corporate management, and was never an employee of IAI.
"I'm not an employee; I'm a consultant. And I will leave IAI the day before I get sworn in with the rest of the new Knesset on March 31," he said.
Email: bopallrome@defensenews.com
Opall-Rome is Israel bureau chief for Defense News. She has been covering U.S.-Israel strategic cooperation, Mideast security and missile defense since May 1988. She lives north of Tel Aviv. Visit her website at www.opall-rome.com.
