Shin Bet’s Cohen latest religious man appointed to top post

Alongside Cohen, Maj.- Gen. Yair Naveh and Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror are in senior security and army positions.

By YAAKOV KATZ
Yoram Cohen 311 (photo credit: Channel 10)
Yoram Cohen 311
(photo credit: Channel 10)
Yoram Cohen will make history as the first head of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) to wear a kippa – serving as another example of the increasing presence of national religious officers within Israel’s security and intelligence organizations.
Cohen, 51, lives in Jerusalem but grew up in Tel Aviv and went to a yeshiva high school in Pardess Hanna, before being drafted into the Golani Reconnaissance Battalion.
Alongside Cohen, Maj.- Gen. Yair Naveh currently serves as the deputy chief of the General Staff, and will likely compete for the top post after Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz completes his term in three years.
Naveh, like Cohen, went to the Netiv Meir Yeshiva High School in Jerusalem and was drafted into the Golani Brigade in 1975.
Another addition was the appointment earlier this month of Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror as head of the National Security Council.
Amidror grew up in Tel Aviv and went to a national religious public school.
While Cohen, Naveh and Amidror are in senior positions within the IDF and the Shin Bet, there are a growing number of religious officers serving in key mid-level positions as well.
Indeed, recent IDF studies show that a quarter of cadets who graduate from the Bahd 1 Officer Training School are religious.