command of IDF ground forces, later went on to head the IDF's Operations Directorate, and in October 1986 became the Deputy Chief of the General Staff. He retired from the IDF in 1988 following his failure to secure the post of Chief of the General Staff. Civilian career Between 1961 and 1964 Drori had studied Archaeology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, participating in several digs, including that of Yigael Yadin at Masada. Upon his retirement from the IDF he was appointed head of the Israeli Ministry of Education's Department of Antiquities. Under his guidance and leadership the department was expanded and restructured, in 1990 becoming the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) with Drori as its first director general. Drori's tenure with the IAA was plagued by clashes with Haredi elements which considered archaeological exploration of possible burial sites as an affront to Judaism. Haredi political parties repeatedly campaigned for his dismissal, going as far as to threaten abandoning the governing coalition unless they were given control of tomb excavations. He occasionally received death threats and was even reputed to have been the target of a Pulsa diNura, a kabbalistic ceremony supposedly intended to bring about the death of an individual. Despite weathering these challenges, Drori quit his post in 2000 after having already secured its extension. Death Amir Drori died on March 12, 2005, after suffering a heart attack during a hiking trip in the Negev. The IAA excavations at the Roman theatre of Tiberias have been named in his honour. References External links The Beautiful Israeli by Caroline Glick Israeli generals 1937 births 2005 deaths Israeli Jews Israeli archaeologists Israeli people of the Yom Kippur War Burials at Kiryat Shaul Cemetery 20th-century archaeologists