Defense minister to begin interviewing candidates for next Israeli military chief

The last time an IDF chief of staff resigned before the end of his term was Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz, who resigned in 2007 over IDF failures during the Second Lebanon War of 2006.

By Pesach Benson, TPS

Defense Minister Yisrael Katz announced on Sunday he will begin interviewing candidates to replace Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi as Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces.

Katz said he will interview Maj.-Gen. Amir Baram who is Deputy Chief of Staff; Maj.-Gen. (res.) Eyal Zamir, who is the Defense Ministry’s Director General; and Maj.-Gen. Tamir Yadai, former chief of ground forces.

Halevi and Maj.-Gen. Yaron Finkelman, commander of the Southern Command, who was responsible for military readiness and activities in southern Israel and along the Gaza border announced their resignations on Tuesday.

The last time an IDF chief of staff resigned before the end of his term was Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz, who resigned in 2007 over IDF failures during the Second Lebanon War of 2006.

Halevi previously signaled he would offer his resignation around the end of January when the army’s internal inquiries into October 7 are submitted to Defense Minister Israel Katz. Katz refuses to sign off on promotions of officers to the ranks of major general or give generals new roles until he reviews the army’s findings.

There have been growing calls for the government to appoint an independent commission of inquiry to investigate political and military failures. Such commissions have broader authority to summon witnesses and collect evidence and are headed by a senior Supreme Court justice. They may include personal recommendations about individuals under investigation, though the government is not bound to act on the recommendations.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the governing coalition say an independent commission should only be appointed after the war.

The last state commission of inquiry, which investigated Israel’s worst civilian disaster — a stampede that killed 45 people at a holy site on Mount Meron — held Netanyahu personally responsible for the tragedy in a report released in April.