Remarks, read as thinly veiled critique of government, come amid public spat with Defense Minister Israel Katz over the latter’s selective promotions of senior IDF officers
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said Wednesday that Israel needs “courageous, transformative” leadership that does not “evade” responsibility, in remarks that seemed to be a thinly veiled criticism of the government.
The comments came amid a public spat with Defense Minister Israel Katz over the military’s October 7 investigations and senior appointments in the Israel Defense Forces.
They were delivered during a ceremony commemorating the 52nd anniversary of the death of Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, at Midreshet Ben-Gurion next to Sde Boker in southern Israel.
“Today, it is clear to us beyond any doubt… What is needed is courageous, purposeful, transformative leadership. Leadership that both recognizes failure and dares to drive change,” Zamir said.
“Not leadership that frightens and stifles, but leadership that uplifts — leadership with inspiration. Not leadership that evades, but one that looks truth in the eye and sets a new direction,” he continued.
“Command responsibility is to rebuild. That is the core essence of leadership,” said the IDF chief.
Katz and Zamir traded barbs publicly on Monday after the former ordered a re-investigation of the military’s external review of its earlier internal probes into the failures surrounding the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack.
In response, Zamir accused Katz of political interference and harming the military’s preparedness by freezing senior promotions — which the defense minister must approve — for 30 days.
Katz has been fighting a months-long, escalating campaign against Zamir over senior IDF appointments by selectively promoting officers and denying the appointments of others with whom he apparently does not see eye to eye.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met separately with the two men in an effort to de-escalate the conflict, after Katz refused to meet with Zamir.
Katz, bucking rumors, says he’ll be in role until elections
Despite the tension, the two officials both attended a meeting Wednesday night, on the subject of the security budget, at IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv.
Channel 12 news reported that Katz does not intend to respond publicly to Zamir’s words at the ceremony, but the network said that if the spat is not resolved within the next few days, the two men are expected to meet one-on-one.
Since news emerged of the separate meetings on Tuesday, rumors circled that Netanyahu was considering firing Katz; the Prime Minister’s Office quickly denied all such claims.
On Wednesday, speaking in the Knesset, Katz said in remarks directed at opposition lawmaker Yulia Malinovsky: “Each time we meet, here or elsewhere, it will be with me as Defense Minister and you as an opposition MK, that will be the situation at least until the next elections.”
Katz, together with Netanyahu, tapped Zamir to be IDF chief of staff in February. He took office in March, after former military chief Herzi Halevi resigned over failures surrounding the Hamas attack.
While assailing the military for not taking sufficient responsibility for the disaster, the government has resisted pressure to establish a state commission of inquiry — the most powerful and independent mechanism for investigating failures — and has worked to set up its own probe instead.
As reported by The Times of Israel