Defense Minister Israel Katz on Sunday announced that the government has given final approval for Defense Ministry Director-General Maj.-Gen. (res.) Eyal Zamir to replace IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi.
This comes after the vetting committee led by former chief justice Asher Grunis approved him last week.
Although usually, the vetting committee process is a mere technicality to ensure that there are no unforeseen legal problems with top government appointees, occasionally, the process has uncovered an issue and derailed a candidacy.
Zamir was announced as Halevi’s replacement earlier in February.
Besides having the number one non-political role at the Defense Ministry, which has put him in control of much of Israel’s international defense relations and force buildup over the last two years, he has been deputy IDF chief, Southern Command chief, and military secretary of the prime minister, three of the most prominent positions in the IDF high command.
Close, but no cigar
Zamir was a close second to Halevi in the race for IDF chief in January 2023, but that pick was made by then-defense minister Benny Gantz toward the end of an 18-month period when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was out of power.
This time, he defeated outgoing IDF Deputy Chief Maj.-Gen. Amir Baram, who may be the lead candidate to replace Zamir after his term ends, and Maj.-Gen. Tamir Yadai.
Already back in December, there were not only calls for Halevi to step down but, specifically, for Zamir to replace him, both from political officials and senior defense officials.
“Fourteen months have passed... the IDF chief needs to take the decision [to resign] relatively soon, and it needs to be a rapid process to replace him because of the continuing war and because of the broader situation,” senior defense officials told The Jerusalem Post in December.
They added, “The October 7 probes must be published soon... and there must be a proper transition period” to allow the incoming chief to get used to the role before Halevi leaves, even if the process will need to be shorter than the several months normally allocated for the transition.
They also cited Zamir’s current role as the top non-political official of the Defense Ministry, his former role as deputy IDF chief, his experience in a range of other top military roles, and the fact that he managed to work as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s military secretary without becoming enveloped politically.
The only possible issue that could have derailed the candidate was the fact that he was also a Southern Command chief, which could have allowed some to try to tar him with the October 7 failure. However, Zamir was in that role from 2015 to 2018 – five years before the Hamas invasion – and with the three other commanders who successively filled the position, separating him from the failure.
Sources further noted that when the major-general finished his term as deputy IDF chief, he warned that the military was too small to handle its full defense roles and that the infantry was too small.
Sources said, “We saw parts of this and the results on October 7,” when only 600 soldiers were guarding the border with Gaza from an onslaught of 6,000 Hamas and other terrorist invaders.
Zamir is somewhat unusual for an IDF chief given that his earlier military background is more in tank command than in traditional paratrooper and special forces infantry units, but his top posts in the later years of his resume made him a favorite from the start of the race.