#Gantz was born in southern #Israel to #Holocaust survivors, & entered the armed forces in 1977 at 18, steadily climbing the ranks in a military career that spanned 38 years & has been peppered w/milestones. In 1989, as commander of an elite unit of the #IAF, he oversaw an operation that airlifted 14,500 Ethiopian Jews vulnerable to persecution to Israel. A decade later, he served as commander of Israeli forces occupying southern #Lebanon, & then oversaw the country’s withdrawal from the region.