JERUSALEM – Israel’s defense industry is in turmoil over a surprise appointment to the board of the state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. Their weapons have infiltrated the entire ecosystem of the country’s vast defense apparatus.
Alon Pikarsky, head of the surgical department and general surgery department at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem, will join the board of directors after his appointment was approved by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the Minister responsible for Public Enterprises, David Amsalem.
In late March, Pikarsky was tasked with performing an inguinal hernia operation on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and in March 2021, he led the appendectomy of Netanyahu’s wife Sara.
His connections to Rafael’s company or to the defense industry in general are unclear, but he would not be the only board member without such qualifications. Still, Pitarsky’s appointment has raised the speculation here about his personal relationship with the Prime Minister as a driving force.
Rafael’s board of directors has 12 seats, of which only 10 are currently filled, and Pikarski will be the 11th director. At this time, there is no known intention of the responsible ministers to fill the 12th seat.
Rafael began as an independent unit in the Israeli Ministry of Defense in 1948 and was transferred to a state-owned company in 2002. Since then, the company has paid the equivalent of approximately $678 million in dividends to the treasury.
Rafael’s annual revenue for 2023 was $3.8 billion and net profit was $159 million for the same period. The company employs approximately 8,500 local workers and is defined as the largest employer in Northern Israel. The company aims to hire 2,000 additional employees by the end of this year.
Pitarsky and Israeli ministers Galant and Amsalem declined to comment.
