Netanyahu announces that Eyal Zamir will become a new TDS establishment head – Defense News

Defense Minister Israel Katz and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the director general of the Ministry of Defense Maj.-Gen on Saturday. (Res.) Eyal Zamir as a choice to replace the Chief of the FDI Staff The Lieutenant-General. Herzi Halevi.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz agreed with the appointment of Major-General. (Res.) Eyal Zamir as the next TDS staff chief.

– Prime Minister of Israel (@israelipm) February 1, 2025

In addition to having the number one non -political role at the Ministry of Defense, which has controlled him with a large part of the international defense and the defense force of Israel in the past two years , Zamir was deputy chief of TDS, head of command of the South and military secretary of the Prime Minister, three of the most important positions of the High Command of the FDI.

Zamir ended up near Halevi in ​​the FDI chief’s race in January 2023, but this choice was made by the Minister of Defense at the time, Benny Gantz, towards the end of a period of 18 months when the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was out of power.

This time, Zamir beat the chief of loyal outgoing the chief of the deputy. Amir Baram, who can be the main candidate to replace Zamir after the end of his mandate and the Major-Genre. Tamir Yadai, who recently retired but could also be recalled at some point to become assistant chief of the FDI or fulfill another key role.

The political and defense leader called Zamir to replace Halevi

Already in December, there were not only more important calls to Halevi to resign, but specifically so that Zamir replaces him, both political leaders and senior defense officials.

“Fourteen months have passed … The leader of the FDI must make the decision (resigning) relatively soon, and it must be a quick process to replace it due to the continuous war and due to the broader situation,” said senior defense officials known as The Jerusalem post in December.

They added that “the probes of October 7 must be published soon … and there must be an appropriate transition period” to allow the chief entering the role before Halevi’s departure, even if the process must be shorter than several months normally allocated to the transition.

They also quoted Zamir’s current role as a senior non -political civil servant of the Ministry of Defense, his former role as assistant chief of TDS, his experience in a range of other superior military roles, and the fact that he has succeeded in working as a military secretary of Netanyahu without becoming politically wrapped.

Perhaps the only problem that could have derailed Zamir was the fact that he was also a southern chief of command, which could allow some to try to priced him with the failure of October 7. However, Zamir participated in this role from 2015 to 2018 – five years before the invasion of Hamas – and with the three other commanders who successively held the post, separating it from failure.

---

Stay up to date with the latest news!

Subscribe to the Jerusalem Post newsletter

---

Sources also noted that when Zamir had finished his mandate as deputy chief of the FDI, he warned that the army was too small to manage his complete defense roles and that the infantry was too small within the ‘army.

Sources said: “We saw parts of this and results on October 7”, while only 600 soldiers kept the border with Gaza of an assault of 6,000 Hamas and other terrorist invaders.

Zamir is somewhat unusual for a TSAhal chief since his previous military history are more in the tank command than in the paratroper infantry units and the traditional special forces, but his main positions in the last years of his CV made him a favorite from the start of the race.