Senior IDF officer retires from military after being questioned for ‘moral offenses’

Brig. Gen. Yisrael Shomer, the chief of the Operations Division, suddenly requested to step down and retire from the military “due to personal circumstances,” the Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday evening.

The officer was reportedly suspected of “moral offenses” and had been questioned by the Military Police, although the IDF did not comment on those allegations.

The IDF said Shomer’s commander, Maj. Gen. Itzik Cohen — the head of the Operations Directorate — accepted his request. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir also approved Shomer’s “request for immediate retirement, and he will therefore retire from service immediately.”

Until a permanent replacement for Shomer is made, the head of the Planning Department in the Operations Directorate, a colonel, will serve as head of the division, according to the IDF.

Shomer’s role is considered one of the most critical parts of the IDF’s functioning. The Operations Division is tasked with coordinating and formulating plans for war, emergencies, and routine operations, along with directing the various branches of the military regarding the deployment of troops.

The unit, which is based out of the IDF’s main underground command center at the Kirya headquarters in Tel Aviv, is also tasked with formulating IDF recommendations for approval by Israel’s political leadership.

Shomer is a resident of Kibbutz Kfar Aza who, at the time of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, served as the commander of the 146th Division, the IDF’s largest reserve division. He set out to defend his home armed with just a knife that morning.

He fought for hours against Hamas gunmen with just the knife until he picked up a weapon from a wounded member of the local security squad, according to the IDF’s probe of the attack on Kfar Aza.

Shomer had long been considered a potential candidate for promotion to the rank of major general. Recently, his name was mentioned in media reports as the next potential Personnel Directorate chief or head of the Central Command.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, another critical role in the IDF was left vacant after former military secretary to the prime minister, Roman Gofman, entered the role of director of the Mossad spy agency.

Unusually, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not yet announced a successor for Gofman as military secretary, although he was expected to do so soon.

The officer who will take over as military secretary will enter the role without receiving on-the-job training from Gofman, as the latter is likely to be too busy with the role of Mossad chief.

There are two main candidates whose names have been brought up as potential successors to Gofman as military secretary: Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram, the commander of the IDF’s Gaza Division, and Brig. Gen. Guy Markizeno, the military secretary to the defense minister.