Major Tzion Shenker, who currently serves as the operations officer of the northern Gaza brigade, will soon be promoted to lt.-colonel, thereby becoming the army’s first-ever Ethiopian battalion commander.

Commander of IDF Ground Forces Major-General Avi Mizrachi already approved the appointment, and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi is expected to sign off without any objections. Shenker is expected to serve in the army’s Kfir infantry brigade, where he spent most of his career.

Shenker came to Israel with his parents when he was four. He walked with his family from Ethiopia to Sudan, and from there they were air-lifted to Eretz Yisrael. He began his life in Israel in Beersheva and later attended a dati school.

After being promoted he will be the highest ranking Ethiopian officer in the IDF, and he has already signaled he plans to continue, hoping to become the army’s first major-general.

IDF officials report that enlistment among the Ethiopian community is higher than in most other sectors of society, but the numbers entering elite combat units and officers school are relatively low.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)