IDF chief, Minister Katz announce advancement in appointment talks

IDF sources told The 'Post' that the meeting clarified which appointments are already in consensus between the two top defense officials.

Defense Minister Israel Katz and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir issued a joint statement on Tuesday, saying that they had met to discuss appointing new brigadier-generals and colonels, which are senior ranks below the IDF’s high command level.

On the one hand, their meeting represents real progress toward resolving the appointments dispute that erupted between them two weeks ago.

Then again, the official statement provided almost no details about the specific appointments or the expected process or time frame for approving future promotions.

However, IDF sources told The Jerusalem Post that the meeting did clarify which appointments are already in consensus between the two top defense officials and which appointments will be debated and may even lead Katz to press Zamir to reach a different decision.

In that vein, IDF sources remain uncertain about the defense minister’s time frame for final approvals, specifically.

The dispute broke out against the backdrop of a much larger and more significant one between Zamir and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In fact, this appointments dispute has nothing to do with new appointees or the relationship between the two men.

How one disagreement created friction

Both got along great for a whole year in two separate capacities until the chief of staff contradicted Netanyahu’s narrative, which is in favor of invading Gaza City and potentially taking over the entire enclave.

Following Zamir’s “sin” of speaking his mind about a new policy that most defense officials believe will either lead to the deaths of the remaining hostages, the deaths of many more soldiers and Palestinian civilians – harming Israel’s legitimacy without really weakening Hamas in the process – or all of the above, he appeared to have turned into the prime minister’s main scapegoat.

This was basically pulling out the same playbook that Netanyahu and Katz used to pummel Zamir’s predecessor, Herzi Halevi.

This time, it happened faster than it did with Halevi.

It occurred before Zamir had actually made any mistakes that anyone could attribute to him, shortly after he spearheaded a historic win against Iran and conquered 75% of Gaza, and even though he was Netanyahu’s top pick (among the multiple reasons as to why the prime minister never liked Halevi was that Benny Gantz had picked him).

The positions at stake are not typically ones where the defense minister weighs in. Usually, he weighs in more on high command appointments, but these are beneath that level, and whoever is in Katz’s position usually just signs off.

Mainly, the reason is that these officers are usually too far down the military food chain for a defense minister to have gotten to know any of them or their competitors in any meaningful way.

In contrast, the IDF chief makes it his job to get to know colonels and higher, as well as lieutenant colonels and above.

When Katz blocked Halevi’s appointments, it was to force Halevi to publish the October 7 IDF failures report and to compel him to resign.

But the report has been out since February.

Katz did not request any new significant resignations after the announcement, except for Halevi, then-IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari, and the IDF Southern Command chief at the time, Yaron Finkelman – all of whom resigned voluntarily.

All of the officers that Zamir wants to promote were key to Israeli victories against Hamas and others since October 7.

They are precisely the kind of battle-hardened officers one would expect to find in leading positions.

This is not the first time that a defense minister has clashed with an IDF chief of staff over appointments. When Ehud Barak clashed with Gabi Ashkenazi as defense minister vs the IDF chief of staff over public credit for being Israel’s “Mr. Security,” he blocked some appointments.

And once again, Katz used this process to oust Halevi, but Halevi had the October 7 failure hanging over him.
Regarding Katz’s initial claim that Zamir failed to consult with him, it later emerged that the IDF chief had attempted to meet with Katz about the issue but was stonewalled.