David Ivry

David Ivry (Hebrew: דוד עברי‎‎; born 1934) was the Israeli Ambassador to the United States from 2000 to 2002, and the ninth commander of the Israeli Air Force (IAF). In 1999, he was appointed first director of the Israeli National Security Council. Since 2003 he is the vice president of Boeing International and president of Boeing Israel.

Ivry was born in Tel Aviv in 1934. In 1952 he was recruited to the Israeli Air Force, where he served as a pilot of a P-51 Mustang. In 1956 he was sent to a special flight-instructors course in the UK, and became the commander of the flight-instruction school at Tel Nof Airbase. During the Sinai Campaign he served as an Ouragan pilot. In 1959 he ejected from his Dassault Super Mystère during an engagement with an Egyptian Mig-17. In 1962, he became the commander of the first Israeli squadron of the French Dassault Mirage. In the Six-Day War, Ivry served as a Mirage pilot and the commander of the Mystère squadron.

From October 1977 to December 1982, he served as the ninth commander of the IAF. While he was in command, the IAI bases were moved from Sinai to the Negev, the air force took part in Operation Litani and Operation Opera. He was in command of Operation Mole Cricket 19 in the early stages of the 1982 Lebanon War.

On September 2, 2003, Boeing named Ivry as vice president of Boeing International and president of Boeing Israel. He represents the company’s business interests and coordinates companywide business activities in Israel.