Reports: Retired Defense Ministry Director Eyal Zamir to Replace Herzi Halevi as IDF Chief

Photo Credit: Flash90

Herzi Halevi (L) with Eyal Zamir, July 11, 2021.

Right after Defense Minister Israel Katz had taken office, the ministry’s director general, Maj. Gen. (res.) Eyal Zamir asked to leave the Defense Ministry and is now considered a leading candidate to replace IDF Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, who has been rumored to take the exit door shortly.

Halevi was forced on the Netanyahu government by the Lapid-Gantz interim government in late 2022, just before the right-wing coalition was sworn in. The move defied every known protocol but was ultimately approved by AG Gali Baharav-Miara on the word of then-DM Gantz that appointing Halevi was a matter of life and death.

It was a brazen lie, of course, and the hastened appointment was merely Gantz’s way of denying Netanyahu the selection of the next IDF chief of staff. Less than one year later, Halevi became the architect of the Israeli army’s fatal failure to prevent the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.

But as things have a way of working themselves out, today, Maj. Gen. Zamir, who was Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi’s deputy, is one of very few senior IDF officers who was not touched by the October 7 catastrophe, making him almost the sure winner for the top IDF job.

Senior military commentator Yossi Yehoshua told FM103 on Monday that he would like to see Zamir as the next Chief of Staff. “He knew how to work excellently with Gallant and Netanyahu. He was not a political man. He did not get dirty. If there is anyone who can rehabilitate the General Staff, this is the man.”

The problem is, according to Yehoshua, that the IDF’s win is the defense ministry’s loss. There are very few former generals out there with Zamir’s experience, talents, and personality.

THE MAN WHO WOULD BE CHIEF

Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir, 58, began his military career in the Armored Corps, graduated from the armored officers school, and became a platoon commander and company commander in the 500th Brigade and the 460th Brigade. In the years 1992-1994 Zamir served as the operations officer of the 7th Armored Brigade (with the rank of Major). From 1994 to 1996 he served as the commander of the 75th Battalion in the 7th Armored Brigade (with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel). In 1996, he became a commander of the tank commanders course at the armored school. He served in this position until 1997 when he went on to study for a year at the War School in France.

In 2003–2005 Zamir was commander of the 7th Armored Brigade. In 2007–2009 he served as commander of the 143rd Division (with the rank of brigadier general), and at the same time commanded a course for company and battalion commanders.

In June 2009, he was appointed commander of the 36th Division. In November 2012, he was appointed Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Military Secretary. On October 14, 2015, he took office as Commander of the Southern Command. On December 13, 2018, he was appointed IDF Deputy Chief of Staff, a position he held until July 11, 2021.

On June 13, 2022, then-Defense Minister Benny Gantz announced that Zamir was one of three candidates to become the IDF’s 23rd Chief of Staff, alongside Herzi Halevi and Yoel Strick. On July 17, 2022, Gantz announced that the race was between Zamir and Halevi.

Zamir lives in Ramot Hashavim in central Israel. He is married to Orna, a former spokesperson and deputy director of the Hod Hasharon municipality, and they are the parents of three children. His son Uri, who served as an officer in the Armored Corps, was awarded the Chief of Staff’s Distinguished Service Medal on the 73rd Independence Day of the State of Israel, and his daughter Roni was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal by the Field Units.