Netanyahu reportedly yelled at Liberman for nominating Kochavi as IDF chief

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly shouted at then-defense minister Avigdor Liberman when the latter informed the prime minister, who was on a secret trip to Oman, that he had chosen Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi to be the next chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces.

Liberman knew that Netanyahu preferred Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir for the position, but took advantage of the fact that the prime minister was out of the country on the then-unreported visit to Muscat, Army Radio reported Sunday.

Liberman called up Netanyahu and told him that he planned to announce that he was nominating Kocahvi for the role.

Sources privy to the call told Army Radio that Netanyahu then asked the defense minister to hold off on making the announcement and to wait until he returned to Israel, before yelling that he would not take the nomination to a cabinet vote.

Liberman made the announcement in any case, and it was noted by many at the time that the Prime Minister’s Office took a few hours before issuing a statement of congratulations to Kochavi.

Officials in the PMO eventually said Kochavi was nominated because he was “the most experienced candidate.”

Senior officials at the time told Hebrew-language media that Liberman’s decision to nominate Kochavi was made unilaterally, and was not coordinated with the prime minister or his staff.

Last Tuesday, a vetting committee approved Kochavi’s candidacy for the position, paving the way for him to step into the role at the beginning of next year. A final vote to approve Kochavi to take over as the 22nd commander of the IDF is scheduled to be brought before the cabinet later on Sunday, according to Netanyahu’s office.

Liberman resigned as defense minister earlier this month, citing differences of opinion over Israel’s policies toward the Gaza Strip and the Hamas terror group.

With Liberman’s exit, Netanyahu, who also serves as foreign minister and health minister, took over as defense minister as well.

Last Thursday, Netanyahu named Zamir as the next deputy chief of staff of the IDF in one of his first acts since he also took on the mantle of defense minister.

Zamir is to succeed Kochavi in the role.

Zamir was thought to have been Netanyahu’s preferred candidate for the top position. He served until recently as head of the Southern Command, overseeing the construction of a massive underground barrier around the Gaza Strip to thwart terror groups’ border-crossing attack tunnels. Before that, Zamir served as military secretary to Netanyahu.