Katz slams IDF chief’s conduct, insists he won’t approve his promotions

Defense Minister Israel Katz says that he will not approve IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir’s latest promotions of senior officers, in a lengthy statement slamming the military chief on several topics.

On Thursday night, Zamir announced a new round of appointments in the military at the ranks of colonel and brigadier general, subject to Katz’s approval.

Katz had already said he was freezing senior appointments in the IDF for 30 days, until the defense establishment comptroller conducts a re-investigation of the military’s review of its earlier internal probes into the failures surrounding the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre.

The external review, conducted by Maj. Gen. (res.) Sami Turgeman and other former senior officers found that many of the initial probes were inadequate, and also pointed to several topics that were not investigated at all.

Zamir has since instructed various IDF units to complete their investigations, and he has also appointed officers to investigate topics that were not previously probed, chief among them the military’s failed handling of intelligence reports that outlined Hamas’s intent to launch a wide-scale attack against Israel.

“I expected the chief of staff to act according to the committee’s recommendations and complete and deepen the investigations, but I was surprised when he summoned officers and imposed various sanctions on them without updating me on such a significant step and without consultation,” Katz says, refering to Zamir’s decision to dismiss several officers from the military over their failures on October 7.

“Since I am the authority who, by law, approves the appointment of senior IDF officers from the rank of colonel and above, I tasked the defense establishment comptroller — the most qualified professional body — with completing the investigations and presenting findings that would allow me to consider my position on senior appointments. I also asked the chief of staff to wait 30 days on the appointments so that I would have the required information and we could act according to the procedure we formulated, which includes prior consultations,” Katz says.

“Unfortunately, the chief of staff did not comply with my request and held the appointments discussion,” he continues, referring to Zamir’s announcement on Thursday.

Katz says that “it is important to emphasize that regarding the IDF’s operational activity in the various arenas, I maintain direct and continuous contact with the chief of staff and the IDF brass, as well as numerous joint discussions chaired by the prime minister, and none of this is affected.”