Zohar Palti

Zohar Palti

Former Head of the Political-Military Bureau at Israel's Ministry of Defense and Former Director of Intelligence of the Mossad

Mr. Palti (57) was drafted to the IDF in 1982 and served in various field and research & analysis positions in the IDI. He commanded the Counter Terrorism Department of the IDI during the Second Intifada (2000-2003). Upon the end of his tenure as the Deputy Head of the Research & Analysis Division of the IDI he transferred to the Mossad at the request of then Mossad Director, the late Meir Dagan. He held different senior positions until being appointed in 2011 by the then Mossad Director Tamir Pardo as the Head of the Intelligence Department. In 2014 Mr. Palti established the Intelligence Directorate of the Mossad, in times of turmoil in the Arab world and the Syrian civil war. In this capacity, Mr. Palti led the efforts to counter Iran’s nuclear program as well as counterterrorism operations. Upon the end of his position in 2016 Mr. Palti joined the Harvard Belfer Center as a senior research fellow. In 2017 Mr. Palti was appointed by the Israeli Government as the Director of Policy & Political-Military Bureau at the Ministry of Defense, a position he holds until today. Mr. Palti holds a BA and MA (summa cum laude) in Middle Eastern Studies from Tel Aviv University. He served as a research fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and studied in the National Defense University (NDU) in Washington DC. Throughout his extensive career Mr. Palti was awarded various citations and honors from the Israeli and American Intelligence community. Upon his retirement earlier this spring, Palti was awarded the U.S
Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service "for his major contribution to bolstering U.S.-Israel strategic defense relations.”

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