IDF officials said to accuse Katz of ‘blackmail’ over reluctance to okay senior appointments

IDF sources are reportedly accusing Defense Minister Israel Katz of “blackmail” and of treating the army chief as if he were a junior soldier, escalating a public tiff between the heads of Israel’s defense establishment.

Katz has publicly attacked IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir over a round of senior appointments the latter has announced, saying this wasn’t coordinated with him and goes against established protocol. The military has countered that the normal course of events is the army holding internal discussions, with the defense minister later approving or rejecting them.

But unofficially, military sources cited by several Hebrew media outlets allege that Zamir has attempted for around a month to schedule a meeting with Katz regarding the round of appointments, without success.

According to the Ynet news site, the last such attempt was yesterday, and he was rejected “as if he were ranked corporal, and even though there was no surprise here.”

The Israel Hayom daily cites Katz’s office as claiming Zamir came “by surprise” and was rejected due to scheduling issues and because the army chief requested a 15-minute meeting to discuss the matter, while Katz wants a longer discussion to weigh the appointments. The office also claims Zamir only started asking for a meeting on Friday.

A source cited by Ynet claims that in an act of “unprecedented blackmail,” the issue is being linked by Katz to the government’s demand that the military prepare for the takeover of Gaza City, as approved last week by the cabinet despite reported objections by Zamir and other top defense officials.

Sources are cited as estimating that while Katz is sending out the scathing messages, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the one actually behind them.