Eyal Zamir nominated to become IDF’s 24th chief of staff after Halevi’s resignation takes effect in March
Maj. Gen. (res.) Eyal Zamir, the Defense Ministry director-general, has been nominated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz to become the next Israel Defense Forces chief of staff.
Zamir, 59, had been considered the frontrunner candidate to replace IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, who is resigning over his responsibility for the failures that led to the Hamas terror group’s October 7, 2023, onslaught.
By law, candidates for IDF chief of staff, as well as other senior positions such as police commissioner and Bank of Israel governor, must be vetted by the Senior Appointments Advisory Committee. After that, a nominee is confirmed in a cabinet vote.
Zamir will become the IDF’s 24th chief of staff when he replaces Halevi, who is resigning on March 6.
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Eyal Zamir’s nomination as IDF chief gets praise from across the political aisle
By Sam Sokol
Politicians across the political spectrum welcome the nomination of Maj. Gen. (res.) Eyal Zamir to become the next Israel Defense Forces chief of staff.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid calls the current Defense Ministry director-general the “the right person for the job” while The Democrats’ chairman Yair Golan lauds him as “a talented officer and leader [who] will have to deal with the task of rebuilding the army, and with the burden of protecting the IDF from a dangerous and corrupt political echelon.”
MK Yuli Edelstein (Likud), the chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, says that Zamir is entering his position “at an intense and fateful time” and will have the “historic task of shaping the face of the IDF for future generations.”
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Otzma Yehudit chairman Itamar Ben Gvir both call on Zamir to reshape the IDF to be more aggressive and to shed alleged defeatist ideas about national security that are allegedly prevalent among its leadership.
“The Israeli people expect him to lead the IDF very quickly to a drastic change in the concept of security and complete victory on all fronts,” Smotrich declares, adding that Zamir will have to replace many people on the IDF general staff with “combative and determined commanders of the generation of victory.”
“This is the time to break free from the conceptions of the past, restore deterrence, and act with a strong hand against terrorism,” says Ben Gvir.
In a video message, National Unity chairman and former IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz calls Zamir “an experienced commander, with values and a broad strategic vision [who] is certain to promote the mobilization of the Haredim and all populations, and to preserve the IDF as the people’s army.”
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