Senior IDF general Toledano says he will step down, won’t run to replace chief of staff

A senior Israel Defense Forces officer who until several months before the October 7 onslaught served as the head of the Southern Command, notified his subordinates that he does not plan to run for IDF chief of staff and he will resign when his current role comes to an end.

Maj. Gen. Eliezer Toledano serves as the head of the IDF’s Strategy and Third-Circle Directorate, which is tasked with the military’s Iran file.

The officer told his subordinates that after his stint was up, he would resign from the military and not run for any other position in the IDF including chief of staff, according to Hebrew-language media.

Toledano’s name was mentioned in several recent media reports as a potential successor to IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, who indicated he would resign at the end of the army’s investigations into the failures on October 7.

Toledano was the head of the Southern Command until July 2023, and before that, he was the commander of the Gaza Division. He also served as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s military secretary.