Eran Ortal

Brigadier General Eran Ortal is the former commander of The Dado Center for Interdisciplinary Military Studies of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). He is also the founder of the Dado Center Journal, a publication focused on operational art and military transformation. Brigadier General Ortal began his military career in 1989 in the IDF’s Nahal Brigade, serving in southern Lebanon and the West Bank in the Combat Intelligence Collection Corps. In 1999, he returned to the IDF as an operations researcher in the Planning Branch (J-5) of the General Staff. He later joined the Operations Division, contributing as an operational planner during key events, including Israel’s disengagement from Gaza (2005), the Second Lebanon War (2006), the 2007 airstrike on the Syrian nuclear reactor and Operation Cast Lead (2008).

His first book, The Battle Before the War, was published in Hebrew in 2022. His second book, Renewal, which tracks the run-up to Israel’s 2023-2025 war and the way ahead, will be published later this year. Ortal is also a senior fellow with the BESA center at Bar-Ilan university  in Israel, and a special consultant for the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces.