Ziv Shilon-Niv Hassoun

Ziv Shilon was born and raised in Be’er Sheva to Margalit, a teacher and educator, and Zvi, an independent in the textile industry, the youngest son and brother to two brothers and a sister. He completed his high school education in Comprehensive C in Beer Sheva, and at the same time played in the youth team of Hapoel Beer Sheva in basketball at the beginning of his career. In 2006, he enlisted in the Givati ​​Brigade. In his last position he was commander of a fighter company with the rank of major in the brigade’s sabra battalion

Shilon’s military service began in 2006, when he enlisted in the Givati ​​Brigade. During his service he attended a radar course and an infantry officer course at the IDF Officers’ School, held a variety of positions, and participated in numerous operations and activities including Operation Cast Lead. Fighters (Captain), in the Brigade’s Sabra Battalion, during operational employment in the southern Gaza Strip

On October 23, 2012, Shilon was injured during an operational activity, following which he lost his left hand, and was severely injured in his right hand. He then underwent intensive rehabilitation for 11 months. After his release from the hospital, he began studying law at the Interdisciplinary Academic Center in Herzliya and in 2017 completed his degree.

In the first months after the injury, Shilon began talking to teenagers and students about the story of his injury. Over the years, experiences and achievements, he has gained experience of hundreds of lectures. In his lectures, Shilon deals with personal empowerment, coping with extreme situations, tools for dealing with personal and collective challenges, using personal challenges to develop solutions and more. Shilon has lectured to a variety of audiences, such as senior levels of the security services, military units and security forces, private companies, youth, students and initiated and involved events in Israel and around the world. Much of his lectures and speeches across the United States and Europe have been devoted to fundraising for causes related to IDF soldiers and their well-being, areas related to the medical world such as the Star of David Adom, rehabilitation centers, blood collection centers and more.

In the years 2018-2020, Shilon’s contribution to the unique development of Microsoft, XBOX, was published, launching for the first time in history the first gaming sign of its kind designed for players with disabilities and their access to a world of content that until then had been almost completely excluded from it. The sign was named Time Magazine’s Top 10 Most Important Developments in the Last Decade.

In 2014, he proposed to his partner during a speech he gave in Florida on behalf of the FIDF Friends of the IDF organization, and after a few months they got married. The two live in Herzliya and have a daughter and a son. His daughter is a walker who suffers from visual impairment.

He shows the difficulties of parenthood in a new series by Hot ‘Abala