The ongoing rift between Defense Minister Israel Katz and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir continued to flare on Wednesday after Katz released a lengthy statement emphasizing that only he is responsible for approving senior military appointments.
Katz’s statement came after he slammed Zamir on Tuesday for holding a military staffing meeting with plans to reshuffle senior IDF positions, claiming that it was conducted contrary to his directive, “without prior coordination and agreement, in violation of established procedure.”
Katz and Zamir previously had positive relations, as is typically the case between the defense minister and chief of staff. However, the rift between them began ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal for a Gaza occupation plan, which was approved by the cabinet last Thursday, despite Zamir’s objections to it.
In Katz’s Wednesday statement, he underscored that after the October 7 Hamas attacks, “there is no longer an army that is not under oversight.”
“In accordance with the law, I am responsible for approving appointments from the rank of colonel and above, and the chief of staff is essentially the one who recommends the different options,” Katz explained about Zamir’s role.
Katz also slammed former officials who had criticized him, calling on them to read investigations published by the IDF about mistakes that happened during their tenures due to a lack of oversight.
Tensions over senior military appointments, including divison commanders
“To all the former officials who criticize and preach morality – a little humility wouldn’t hurt,” he stated.
Katz’s statement came after a Monday Kan News report that claimed Zamir has regularly been receiving advice from a list of former officials who are no longer part of the military system, in what was referred to in the report as a “secret hive.”
Among the past officials mentioned in the report was former IDF spokesperson Avi Benayahu. Benayahu strongly denied any claims that he was secretly advising Zamir.
“I do not advise the chief of staff and am not a member of any ‘secret hive,’” he wrote in a Wednesday morning X/Twitter post.
“The report is not correct. I clarified this to the journalist who spoke with me. I honestly told him that I met with Zamir once in his office in the presence of the IDF spokesperson for a background conversation, and I spoke with him only twice by phone,” Benayahu continued.
Benayahu also recommended that Katz “stop sending press statements” and suggested that they sit down with Zamir to resolve the issues between them.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said on Wednesday that he would call on Netanyahu to dismiss Zamir if he “doesn’t fire his advisors.”
“If he [Zamir] does not immediately announce that he is replacing his left-wing extremist advisory team, I am calling on the prime minister to immediately replace him with a candidate who strives for victory, rather than working alongside his advisors against the political echelon,” Ben-Gvir stated.