Daniel Hagari (Hebrew: דניאל "דני" הגרי; born 1976) is an Israel Defense Forces Rear Admiral (Tat-Aluf) who currently serves as the head of the IDF Spokesperson's Unit. Previously he has served as the commander of the Israeli Navy's operations directorate, the Chief of Staff's assistant, Commander of the Shayetet 13 marine commando unit and the office of the Chief of Staff.
Military service
Hagari joined the Israel Defense Forces in March 1995, and volunteered to the naval special operations unit, Shayetet 13.[1] After completing the warrior course training in the Shaytet, he then went to the infantry officer course. At the end of the course he returned to the Shayetet 13, and was appointed a platoon commander during Operation Defensive Shield. He later served as deputy commander of the Gadsar Nahal between 2003 and 2004.[2] After that, he was appointed deputy commander of a fighter in Shayetet 13.[2]
In 2007, Hagari was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel (Sgan-Aluf) and appointed commander of a vessel squadron in Shayetet 13, and served in this position until 2009. He was then appointed commander of a training squadron in Shayetet 13 between 2009 and 2011. He later served as deputy commander of Shayetet 13 between 2011 and 2012. Afterwards he was appointed head of the Chief of Staff Benny Gantz's office, a position he served in between the years 2013–2015.[1]
In 2015, Hagari was promoted to the rank of colonel (Aluf-Mishne) and appointed head of the operations directorate of the Israeli Navy, until 2017.[3][1] In May 2017, he was appointed as Chief of Staff's Gadi Eizenkot's assistant, and served in the position during the Northern Shield operation; in this position, he served until 2019.[1] On 31 July 2019, he was appointed Commander of Shayetet 13, a position in which he served until 15 June 2021.[4][1] For the activities of Shayetet 13 under his command, he was awarded the Chief of Staff Medal of Appreciation and the Chief of Staff's award for outstanding units in 2020, and the Chief of Staff's citation on 16 June 2021.[5][6][7] At the end of his position, he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General (Tat-Aluf) and on 17 June 2021, he assumed his position as the Chief of the Navy's Fleet.[1]
On 29 March 2023, Hagari was appointed Chief of the IDF Spokesperson's Unit,[8][2] succeeding Ran Kochav. Hagari's appointment was the continuation of a recent policy to tap career military officials instead of civilian journalists as head of the Spokesperson's Unit.[9]
Notable event
On 14 November 2023, in a video posted on official IDF web channels, Hagari guided viewers through the basements of Al-Shifa Hospital and Rantisi Children's Hospital in Gaza after their capture by Israeli forces.[citation needed]
The goal of this video was to convey "evidence" of Hamas' use of these facilities as headquarters or for other war purposes - a claim that was denied by the Islamist organization, as well as by humanitarian and medical organizations working at the health facilities.[10][11]
Eventually, an Israeli spokesperson noted a translation error in Hagari's statement and stated that the video of his commentary distributed to the media had been corrected, with the specific reference to the document deleted.[12]
Hagari grew up with two brothers[13] in Tel Aviv. He has a wife and four children. He earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy and a master's degree in diplomacy and security, both from Tel Aviv University.[1]
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