Eran Ortal

In recent years, the two officers have adapted their approach to deal with the challenge of "missile-based terror armies", like Hezbollah and Hamas. In a series of articles, Ortal stressed the strategic significance of the rocket threat on Israel, and the imperative of developing a new offensive approach to defeat the new threat. Gen. Aharon Haliva, head of the IDF Operations Directorate during Operation Guardian of the Walls in May 2021, published an article in DCJ calling for the "Extinguish of the fire" approach that Ortal advocated, as a means of stopping the adversary's fires offensive across the border and taking away his ability to pursue a campaign against Israel. Ortal has also analyzed core issues the IDF has dealt with in recent years, including ground maneuver, subterranean threats, the rocket threat, and the IDF's learning and transformation system. In a Res Militaris article called "Israel’s Strategic Border Challenge – The Growth of the Tunnel Threat under the Cover of Rockets," Ortal highlighted the connection between rockets in Gaza and the freedom to dig Hamas has enjoyed since 2014.

In 1999, Ortal returned to the IDF as an operations researcher in the Planning Branch/J5 of the IDF General Staff. In 2004, he transferred to the Operations Division, where he served in a variety of positions in operational planning. Ortal attended the IDF brigade commanders course in 2012, and the next year began studying in the Israel National Security College while also serving as a research fellow. In 2013, Ortal was promoted to the rank of colonel and became the Dado Center's deputy commander and head of think tank. He was promoted to brigadier-general in 2019 and replaced BG Dr. Meir Finkel as commander of the Dado Center.

Ortal, along with Gen. Tamir Yadai, argued that since Operation Accountability in 1993, the IDF has pursued a de facto doctrine they call the "deterrence operations paradigm." They wrote that the reasons for the emergence of this paradigm are the rise of stand-off fires capabilities, a perceived reduction in the relevance of the battlefield victory idea, and a parallel rise in the belief of the coercion and punishment approach against state actors. Ortal and Yadai claim that this paradigm has been shown to be a failure that does not achieve its aims. They propose a conceptual and practical framework to restore the battlefield victory approach in the IDF.

Ortal was born in Bat Yam, Israel. He was drafted into the IDF Nahal Brigade in 1989, and served in southern Lebanon and the west Bank in the Combat Intelligence Collection Corps. In 1993, he completed his active service and studied history and political science, He then did a master's degree in security studies at TAU.

Eran Ortal (Hebrew: ערן אורטל;born 22 October 1971) is an Israeli brigadier-general and military theorist, and is current commander of The Dado Center for Interdisciplinary Military Studies. Ortal is also the founder and editor of the Israel Defense Force Dado Center journal named "Bein Ha-ktavim" (Hebrew: בין הקטבים, "In between the Poles").