Former Defense Ministry director-general Eyal Zamir, whose term will start on Wednesday, will serve as the Israeli army’s new chief of staff.
Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, who resigned in January in anticipation of last week’s report into the military’s disastrous misadventures during the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023, announced Zamir’s resignation.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is currently in charge of the government’s failures investigation.
Last month, Netanyahu and Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz chose Zamir for the position. He will be in charge of all Israeli military operations, including those in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza.
What is known about Zamir’s past?
A lot, really.
Zamir has twice been considered for the position of chief of staff, but both were rejected by Halevi and Aviv Kohavi, his succeeding partner.
Zamir rose up the ranks from tank officer to commander of the 7th Armored Brigade in 2003 and the 36th Armored Division in 2009.
He served as the leader of Israel’s southern command from 2012 to 2015, which is crucial for his future success.
More than 150 Palestinian protesters from Gaza who took part in the Great March of Return were killed and 10, 000 others injured by Zamir’s troops in his final year in the southern command, including 1, 849 children, 424 women, 115 paramedics, and 115 journalists.
He was appointed deputy chief of staff by Netanyahu in November 2018.
Following the killing of 16 Palestinians on May’s day, Zamir defended his actions, claiming that his forces had been “identifying attempts to carry out terror attacks under the camouflage of riots.”
He left the military and Israel in 2021, moving to the United States, where he was a visiting research fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and then made his appointment director-general of the Defense Ministry in 2023.
What are his opinions known to us?
He seems to enjoy fighting.
Zamir stated in his first speech on March 1 that 2025 would “continue to be a year of combat” despite Israel agreeing to ceasefires in its two wars involving Gaza and Lebanon.
Without making any mention of the significant military support Israel receives from the US, he claimed that it must be self-sufficient.
The State of Israel will defend itself by itself, the guiding principle persisted throughout all of us. In response to any threat or circumstance, I’m telling you, Israel will also produce its own weapons on its own, Zamir said.
He holds contradictory views about how important it is to confront Iran and other “ostracists of Israel.”
He reportedly defended the practice of “collective punishment” against what were referred to as “terrorist populations” in a 2007 article.
International law prohibits collective punishment.
What others have said?
Unsurprisingly, some of the cabinet’s more extremist members have greeted Zamir’s appointment.
Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s pro-settler finance minister, earlier this month informed members of his bloc that, in concert with US President Donald Trump, Israel was planning to occupy Gaza.
Netanyahu praised his appointment, stating that “even when he served as my military secretary, I was impressed by Eyal Zamir’s commitment to the country, his commitment to the army, and the fact that his approach is geared toward offence.”
Netanyahu, who approved the ceasefires and withdrawal agreements in Gaza and Lebanon, said, “We anticipate that during his service, we will achieve all these great achievements, which will change the outlook of the entire Middle East.”
Will Zamir’s appointment have an impact on Israel’s future?
It’s possible.
A leadership vacuum at the top of the security forces, which Zamir and, in turn, Netanyahu will be able to shape into their own goals, has resulted in the resignation of several senior members of the military and security apparatus.
Long-term, the position of army chief has frequently spawned other prominent political careers.
Former prime ministers’ chief of staff included Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon, and Yitzhak Rabin.
Source: Aljazeera
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