Tzvi Ayalon (Hebrew: צבי איָילון; 15 June 1911 - 4 March 1993)[1] was a Haganah leader and a major general (Aluf) in the Israel Defense Forces, he served as the first Deputy Chief of General Staff as well as the commander of the Central Command (Israel).

Ayalon was born in the Russian Empire in the summer of 1911, son of Esther and Meir Lashchiner.

On the eve of the outbreak of the War of Independence, he served as a planning officer at the General Staff.

In January 1948, he was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff, and with the establishment of the IDF in May of that year, he continued in his position, with the rank of Major General (Aluf).

[7] He officially left his military service in 1965 and became the director of the licensing department at the Ministry of Transportation and as auditor of the Tel Aviv Municipality.