Protection Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday stated he was retaining navy staffing selections underneath his shut watch, ratcheting up a brewing spat with IDF Chief of Employees Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir.
“After the occasions of October 7, there isn’t any longer a military with out supervision,” he stated, in what his workplace dubbed a “clarification.”
Katz on Monday clashed with Zamir over a gathering the highest basic held on senior appointments within the navy, and subsequently slapped down the proposed promotions.
“In accordance with the regulation, I’m the one who decides on approving promotions from colonel on up, and the IDF chief is supposed to advocate varied choices,” he stated within the assertion.
“Subsequently, a process was established for prior session between the protection minister and the chief of employees, a process that should be carried out in an orderly method and in preliminary discussions, as has been executed since I assumed the submit of protection minister,” Katz stated.
“The try to alter the procedures we selected, maybe on the advice of anti-government advisers stirring the pot, and to interchange them with an try to find out details on the bottom in advert hoc conferences, won’t succeed,” he added.
IDF Chief of Employees Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir speaks throughout an evaluation, August 11, 2025. (Israel Protection Forces)
There seems to be no regulation that names the protection minister because the official accountable for approving senior promotions within the navy. There’s a “Normal Employees order”– a top-tier navy protocol — from 1992, up to date in 2020, stating that for promotions of colonels and above, the IDF chief of employees is the “appointing authority” and the protection minister is the “approving authority.”
The approving authority is outlined within the navy protocol because the official licensed to approve the promotion of an officer after it has been agreed upon in a staffing dialogue.
The order additionally states that “the appointment of officers within the IDF will happen after holding an appointments dialogue. The choice within the appointments dialogue will probably be made by the chairperson of the dialogue and will probably be handed on for approval by the approving authority.”
On Tuesday, Kan information cited sources within the IDF as saying Zamir had set a gathering with Katz on Monday to go over the record of appointments, however was not let into Katz’s workplace on the scheduled time, with Katz’s secretary telling Zamir that the minister was busy.
Katz’s workplace stated a gathering had been scheduled with Zamir however the basic had later been knowledgeable that the protection minister could be unavailable and that the assembly was canceled, Kan stated.
Kan additionally reported Tuesday that Zamir had lately held consultations with a number of former high-ranking military officers, together with ex-chief of employees Gabi Ashkenazi, former Operations Directorate head Israel Ziv, and ex-IDF spokesman Avi Benayahu, all of whom have been vital of the federal government.
Blue and White MK and chairman of the Knesset’s Overseas Affairs Committee, Gabi Ashkenazi, leads a committee dialogue on the info of ultra-Orthodox recruits to the military, within the Knesset, on December 9, 2019. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The Haaretz each day reported that in his consultations with present and former colleagues, Zamir stated he had been “marked” by Netanyahu’s household for expressing opposition to the brand new Gaza offensive, and that the premier’s associates had been inquisitive about firing him.
Zamir changed former IDF chief Herzi Halevi in March.
A supply who participated in Zamir’s consultations was quoted as saying, “The chief of employees understands precisely what’s taking place and doesn’t intend handy over the navy to Netanyahu and Katz.”
Responding to the experiences, Nationwide Safety Minister Itamar Ben Gvir stated Wednesday that Netanyahu ought to exchange Zamir if he doesn’t instantly dismiss his advisers.
“Once you see the folks closest to the chief of employees, it’s clear why he’s digging his heels in in opposition to our plan to occupy Gaza,” Ben Gvir stated in an announcement, including that Zamir is surrounded by figures who favor “give up.”
“If [Zamir] doesn’t instantly announce that he’s changing his far-left political interior circle, I name on the prime minister to interchange him instantly with a candidate who strives for victory, not one who, together with his advisers, is working to undermine the political management,” he continued.
Nationwide Safety Minister Itamar Ben Gvir seen after a go to on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on August 3, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
In a submit on X, Benayahu denied the report claiming he was a part of a “secret interior circle” consulting Zamir.
“The report just isn’t true. I made this very clear to the reporter who spoke with me. I truthfully instructed him that I met Zamir as soon as in his workplace within the presence of the IDF spokesperson for a background dialog, and that I spoke with him solely twice by telephone,” he stated.
Benayahu stated he believes that the report by Kan “was leaked to a revered diplomatic reporter who’s much less conversant in issues in regards to the chief of employees and his workplace, and it was apparently meant to ‘pave the best way’ for an announcement issued this morning by the protection minister’s workplace about ‘anti-government advisers (what’s that?) advising Zamir.”
The dispute got here after the cupboard in a single day Thursday-Friday authorised a plan to take over Gaza Metropolis — an apparently watered-down model of Netanyahu’s acknowledged intent to take over your entire Strip.
The choice has sparked fierce criticism at residence and overseas. Zamir reportedly warned the cupboard that increasing the combating would endanger the remaining 50 hostages in Gaza and deepen the humanitarian disaster there.
Netanyahu has continuously clashed with Israel’s safety chiefs all through the warfare in Gaza. The premier’s critics have accused him of looking for to dump onto safety heads his personal accountability for failing to avert the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the warfare in Gaza.
