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Avi Bluth

IDF manpower head Dado Bar Kalifa testifies at a State Control Committee meeting in the Knesset in Jerusalem on September 17, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
August 31, 2026, 10:19 pm
Bar Kalifa tapped as top IDF West Bank officer, weeks after Katz announced move on TV
Military confirms current Personnel Directorate chief will move into the role next year; in first, woman tapped to command Artillery Corps’ 282nd Regiment
By Emanuel Fabian
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir at an IDF officers’ course graduation, October 30, 2025. (Noam Revkin Fenton/FLASH90)
August 27, 2026, 2:49 pm
Netanyahu ambushes IDF chief in effort to drag the military into his election campaign
A surprise summons by the PM of the IDF’s top brass for a situation assessment was designed to generate negative headlines against the military, after it warned him that the West Bank is boiling
By Amir Bar Shalom
An Israeli settler attacks a left-wing activist at an Israeli outpost in the Palestinian village of Jannatah, just south of the city of Bethlehem on August 25, 2026. (ilia YEFIMOVICH/AFP)
August 26, 2026, 2:20 am
Settlers filmed attacking activists, reporters in front of IDF troops; none arrested
Left-wing Israeli activists say ‘Jewish terrorists’ attacked them while they were trying to set up fence around Palestinian village that has come under repeated settler harassment
By Noam Lehmann, ToI Staff and Agencies
(L) Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth at the IDF Central Command headquarters in Jerusalem, July 8, 2024 (R) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mount Herzl, in Jerusalem, August 5, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/FLASH90). (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90, Chaim Goldberg/FLASH90)
August 25, 2026, 4:48 am
IDF’s West Bank chief said to warn PM that settler attacks could spark major Palestinian terror outbreak
Report quotes Central Command chief telling Netanyahu ‘there is one match that could ignite everything in an instant – nationalist crime,’ as army increasingly sounds alarm over unchecked violence
By Stav Levaton
Israeli soldiers stand guard next to settlers (front) in front of the Palestinian houses in the village of Qusra, south of Nablus, in the West Bank, on August 12, 2026. (Zain Jaafar/AFP)
August 12, 2026, 5:34 pm
IDF fails to remove settler extremists besieging Palestinian home in West Bank
Infantry battalion dispatched to area after clashes between Israeli forces and settler activists on outskirts of Qusra hindered efforts; homeowner tells Times of Israel family still unable to leave after 4 days
By Nurit Yohanan and Emanuel Fabian
Administrative detainee Tal Yinon Dardik arrives at the Jerusalem District Court for a hearing on Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth’s appeal against a decision to release him, August 11, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
August 11, 2026, 9:00 pm
Court orders release of settler accused of attacking Palestinian after 38 days in custody
Dardik, alleged to have paraded a naked, bound Palestinian around his village, will remain barred from entering the West Bank except to report twice daily to a local police station
By ToI Staff
Administrative detainee Tal Yinon Dardik arrives at the Jerusalem District Court for a hearing on IDF Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth’s appeal against a decision to release him from administrative detention, August 6, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
August 10, 2026, 1:25 pm
IDF: Settler accused of attack to be freed from house arrest, barred from West Bank
IDF requires Tal Yinon Dardik to report to police station twice a day as he is a suspect in March attack in which settlers allegedly zip-tied a Palestinian man’s genitalia
By ToI Staff
Administrative detainee Tal Yinon Dardik, who is on a hunger strike in prison, arrives at the Jerusalem District Court for a hearing on Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth’s appeal against a decision to release him from administrative detention, August 6, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
August 9, 2026, 6:20 pm
Court nixes general’s appeal to keep restrictions on settler accused of lurid attack
Tal Yinon Dardik says house arrest at mother-in-law’s untenable, wants to return to his outpost closer to site of March attack where settlers allegedly zip-tied a Palestinian man’s genitalia
By Jeremy Sharon and ToI Staff
Defense Minister Israel Katz attends the Muni Expo 2026 conference in Tel Aviv, on June 24, 2026 (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
August 7, 2026, 5:41 pm
Reports: With primary near, Katz ditches security cabinet meeting early for Likud wedding
Netanyahu, reportedly surprised by departure, asks ‘Where is the defense minister?’; Katz says he held 10 hours of security deliberations on Thursday
By ToI Staff
Several vehicles burn after settler extremists allegedly torched them in the area of the villages of Talfit and Jalud, south of Nablus in the northern West Bank, early on August 4, 2026. (Screenshot: X; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
August 4, 2026, 1:58 pm
Settler extremists said to torch vehicles, cut electrical lines in West Bank raids
No injuries reported in attacks on several Nablus-area villages; settlers spray-paint ‘Revenge,’ ‘Avi, go home,’ an apparent reference to IDF West Bank general Avi Bluth
By Nurit Yohanan and ToI Staff
Defense Minister Israel Katz (left) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attend the graduation ceremony of an IDF officers’ course in southern Israel, June 25, 2026. (Flash90)
August 4, 2026, 1:35 am
After dissing IDF West Bank chief, announcing replacement on live TV, Katz now says he’s doing ‘well,’ isn’t ousted
Netanyahu said to rage after defense minister castigated Avi Bluth on talk show, sparking outcry; Katz now says there is no disagreement between him and the general
By Emanuel Fabian and Stav Levaton
Left to right: Defense Minister Israel Katz, July 15, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90); IDF Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, February 20, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90); IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, July 12, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
August 3, 2026, 12:38 pm
Katz tries to walk back on-air removal of top general, as opposition, allies call to oust Katz
Lawmakers, former generals, settlement leaders decry defense minister’s live TV replacement of Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth; IDF said freezing senior appointments until elections
By Emanuel Fabian, Jeremy Sharon, Sam Sokol and ToI Staff
Minister of Defense Israel Katz announces that he's replacing the IDF's top West Bank general, on Channel 14, August 2, 2026. (Screenshot)
August 3, 2026, 5:17 am
Katz announces on TV he’s replacing top West Bank general; IDF says he’ll stay in his role
Open dispute erupts between army and defense minister, who tells right-wing Channel 14 live studio audience that Maj. Gen. Bluth acted against his policy on violent settler, names Bluth’s successor, and declares he has ‘absolute control over what is necessary’ in IDF
By Emanuel Fabian and ToI Staff
Palestinians carry the bodies of people killed in an Israeli military strike on a residential building on the back of a vehicle as they attend their funeral at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, July 15, 2026. (AP/Abdel Kareem Hana)
July 16, 2026, 9:41 pm
Strikes said to kill 5 in Gaza as top officer says IDF has taken over 60% of Strip
Army says it targeted Hamas commander who invaded Israel on Oct. 7, as Central Command chief confirms apparent violation of truce stipulation that Israel only hold onto 53% of territory
By Agencies and Emanuel Fabian
Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth speaks during a handover ceremony for the commander of the 99th Division, near Netiv Haasara on the Gaza border, July 15, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces)
July 16, 2026, 8:51 pm
IDF’s West Bank chief claims illegal settler farming outposts ‘greatly strengthen security’
Avi Bluth tells residents of wildcat communes — which critics say have become ground zero for violent extremists and a tool for dispossession of Palestinian lands — that he loves them
By Emanuel Fabian and ToI Staff
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