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Selection Process for Next IDF Chief Looks to Be Rapid
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz speaks during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on the conflict between Israel and Hamas, at UN headquarters in New York, US, March 11, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/David ‘Dee’ Delgado
JNS.org – As Defense Minister Israel Katz prepares to select the next chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, he began meeting the leading candidates on Jan. 26, after incumbent Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said that he will step down on March 6.
Katz is interviewing three contenders to lead the military: the current (and outgoing) deputy chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Amir Baram; the director general of the Defense Ministry, Maj. Gen. (res.) Eyal Zamir; and Maj. Gen. Tamir Yadai, the former head of the Ground Forces Command.
The defense minister has pledged to conduct an orderly and rapid selection process to find a chief of staff who will prepare the military for the “many security challenges faced by the State of Israel at this time.”
Any new chief of staff will have the titanic double mission of rehabilitating and restructuring the IDF after the catastrophic Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and 15 months of intensive, multi-front warfare, coupled with the very real prospect of additional combat near and far.
Katz has also indicated that he expects officers associated with intelligence or operational errors might step aside.
• Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir, while at the helm of the Defense Ministry, has spearheaded efforts over the past year to greatly ramp up domestic weapons production to reduce reliance on imports, working with local defense companies to do this.
He previously served as deputy chief of staff (2018 to 2021), and before that, he led the IDF Southern Command from 2015 to 2018. During that time, he helped formulate war plans focused on Hamas and contemplated scenarios in which the terror faction might be replaced in Gaza, though subsequent Southern Command leaders did not properly update these plans.
Zamir’s term as director general of the Defense Ministry granted him familiarity with both the political and operational dimensions of Israeli defense efforts. Many observers view him as the frontrunner.
• Maj. Gen. Tamir Yadai is a highly experienced and well regarded IDF commander. During his career, he commanded several notable formations, including the Golani Brigade, the Judea and Samaria Division, the Home Front Command, the Central Command and, most recently, the Ground Forces, where he balanced force build-up needs with the demands of ongoing multi-front warfare. Yadai’s background suggests that he excelled at coordinating prolonged large-scale operations under pressure.
• Maj. Gen. Amir Baram, the outgoing deputy chief of staff, has a rich military history, including the command of the elite Maglan Unit, the Samaria Brigade, the Paratroopers Brigade and the Northern Command.
A recent resignation letter he wrote to the chief of staff leaked, in which he requested to end his role as deputy despite the fact that the IDF is in a state of war, made the headlines for its implied criticism of the manner in which the Gaza war has been prosecuted.
Baram wrote, “The intensity of the war has decreased significantly, my ability to contribute in the current situation is limited.” This appears to be an attack on the oscillating intensity of IDF operations in Gaza.
Lt. Col. (res.) Doron Avital, former commander of the elite General Staff Reconnaissance (Sayeret Matkal) Unit, told JNS on Jan. 27 that “the IDF went through a dramatic trauma on October 7—an intense crisis that still reverberates within it.
“Nevertheless, the dramatic successes since, led by Defense Minister [Yoav] Gallant [whom Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed in early November—Y.L.] and Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, indicate that even in the heart of the severe crisis, the IDF’s nerves of steel did not fail,” Avital said.
“The commanders succeeded in moving the IDF from initial shock to a successful and magnificent offensive: In the north [against Hezbollah], the offensive campaign was managed perfectly, and in the south, despite many difficulties, the IDF managed to inflict a defeat on Hamas—an enemy that based its defense on one of the most complex underground arrays any army has ever dealt with.”
He continued, “Now, after the end of the assault phase, the army stands before many tests and requires significant decisions.” These include the need for a comprehensive structure reform, but one that must be conducted “in the midst of sailing at sea,” like a ship needing repairs in the heart of the ocean.
The IDF has to ensure full operational readiness at any moment, said Avital, adding that this would be a difficult but essential challenge.
“The October 7 crisis created a new generation of commanders who experienced combat and gained significant operational experience. We must push this generation forward and let it lead,” argued Avital. “This is the time to carry out fundamental reforms, while maintaining constant operational readiness, to ensure the IDF’s future as a sharp, advanced and victorious army.”
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Trump Says Iran Must Give Up Dream of Nuclear Weapon or Face Harsh Response
Atomic symbol and USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, September 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
President Donald Trump said on Monday he believes Iran is intentionally delaying a nuclear deal with the United States and that it must abandon any drive for a nuclear weapon or face a possible military strike on Tehran’s atomic facilities.
“I think they’re tapping us along,” Trump told reporters after US special envoy Steve Witkoff met in Oman on Saturday with a senior Iranian official.
Both Iran and the United States said on Saturday that they held “positive” and “constructive” talks in Oman. A second round is scheduled for Saturday, and a source briefed on the planning said the meeting was likely to be held in Rome.
The source, speaking to Reuters on the condition of anonymity, said the discussions are aimed at exploring what is possible, including a broad framework of what a potential deal would look like.
“Iran has to get rid of the concept of a nuclear weapon. They cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.
Asked if US options for a response include a military strike on Tehran’s nuclear facilities, Trump said: “Of course it does.”
Trump said the Iranians need to move fast to avoid a harsh response because “they’re fairly close” to developing a nuclear weapon.
The US and Iran held indirect talks during former President Joe Biden’s term but they made little, if any progress. The last known direct negotiations between the two governments were under then-President Barack Obama, who spearheaded the 2015 international nuclear deal that Trump later abandoned.
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No Breakthrough in Gaza Talks, Egyptian and Palestinian Sources Say
Families and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas gather to demand a deal that will bring back all the hostages held in Gaza, outside a meeting between hostage representatives and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in Jerusalem, Jan. 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
The latest round of talks in Cairo to restore the defunct Gaza ceasefire and free Israeli hostages ended with no apparent breakthrough, Palestinian and Egyptian sources said on Monday.
The sources said Hamas had stuck to its position that any agreement must lead to an end to the war in Gaza.
Israel, which restarted its military campaign in Gaza last month after a ceasefire agreed in January unraveled, has said it will not end the war until Hamas is stamped out. The terrorist group has ruled out any proposal that it lay down its arms.
But despite that fundamental disagreement, the sources said a Hamas delegation led by the group’s Gaza Chief Khalil Al-Hayya had shown some flexibility over how many hostages it could free in return for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel should a truce be extended.
An Egyptian source told Reuters the latest proposal to extend the truce would see Hamas free an increased number of hostages. Israeli minister Zeev Elkin, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet, told Army Radio on Monday that Israel was seeking the release of around 10 hostages, raised from previous Hamas consent to free five.
Hamas has asked for more time to respond to the latest proposal, the Egyptian source said.
“Hamas has no problem, but it wants guarantees Israel agrees to begin the talks on the second phase of the ceasefire agreement” leading to an end to the war, the Egyptian source said.
AIRSTRIKES
Hamas terrorists freed 33 Israeli hostages in return for hundreds of Palestinian detainees during the six-week first phase of the ceasefire which began in January. But the second phase, which was meant to begin at the start of March and lead to the end of the war, was never launched.
Meanwhile, 59 Israeli hostages remain in the hands of the terrorists. Israel believes up to 24 of them are alive.
Palestinians say the wave of Israeli attacks since the collapse of the ceasefire has been among the deadliest and most intense of the war, hitting an exhausted population surviving in the enclave’s ruins.
In Jabalia, a community on Gaza’s northern edge, rescue workers in orange vests were trying to smash through concrete with a sledgehammer to recover bodies buried underneath a building that collapsed in an Israeli strike.
Feet and a hand of one person could be seen under a concrete slab. Men carried a body wrapped in a blanket. Workers at the scene said as many as 25 people had been killed.
The Israeli military said it had struck there against terrorists planning an ambush.
In Khan Younis in the south, a camp of makeshift tents had been shredded into piles of debris by an airstrike. Families had returned to poke through the rubbish in search of belongings.
“We used to live in houses. They were destroyed. Now, our tents have been destroyed too. We don’t know where to stay,” said Ismail al-Raqab, who returned to the area after his family fled the raid before dawn.
EGYPT’S SISI MEETS QATARI EMIR
The leaders of the two Arab countries that have led the ceasefire mediation efforts, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, met in Doha on Sunday. The Egyptian source said Sisi had called for additional international guarantees for a truce agreement, beyond those provided by Egypt and Qatar themselves.
US President Donald Trump, who has backed Israel’s decision to resume its campaign and called for the Palestinian population of Gaza to leave the territory, said last week that progress was being made in returning the hostages.
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Iranian Foreign Minister to Visit Moscow Ahead of Second Iran-US Meeting
FILE PHOTO: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi speaks as he meets with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein, in Baghdad, Iraq October 13, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ahmed Saad/File Photo
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi will visit Russia this week ahead of a planned second round of talks between Tehran and Washington aimed at resolving Iran’s decades-long nuclear stand-off with the West.
Araqchi and US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff held talks in Oman on Saturday, during which Omani envoy Badr al-Busaidi shuttled between the two delegations sitting in different rooms at his palace in Muscat.
Both sides described the talks in Oman as “positive,” although a senior Iranian official told Reuters the meeting “was only aimed at setting the terms of possible future negotiations.”
Italian news agency ANSA reported that Italy had agreed to host the talks’ second round, and Iraq’s state news agency said Araqchi told his Iraqi counterpart that talks would be held “soon” in the Italian capital under Omani mediation.
Tehran has approached the talks warily, doubting the likelihood of an agreement and suspicious of Trump, who has threatened to bomb Iran if there is no deal.
Washington aims to halt Tehran’s sensitive uranium enrichment work – regarded by the United States, Israel and European powers as a path to nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is solely for civilian energy production.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Araqchi will “discuss the latest developments related to the Muscat talks” with Russian officials.
Moscow, a party to Iran’s 2015 nuclear pact, has supported Tehran’s right to have a civilian nuclear program.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on vital state matters, distrusts the United States, and Trump in particular.
But Khamenei has been forced to engage with Washington in search of a nuclear deal due to fears that public anger at home over economic hardship could erupt into mass protests and endanger the existence of the clerical establishment, four Iranian officials told Reuters in March.
Tehran’s concerns were exacerbated by Trump’s speedy revival of his “maximum pressure” campaign when he returned to the White House in January.
During his first term, Trump ditched Tehran’s 2015 nuclear pact with six world powers in 2018 and reimposed crippling sanctions on the Islamic regime.
Since 2019, Iran has far surpassed the 2015 deal’s limits on uranium enrichment, producing stocks at a high level of fissile purity, well above what Western powers say is justifiable for a civilian energy program and close to that required for nuclear warheads.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has raised the alarm regarding Iran’s growing stock of 60% enriched uranium, and reported no real progress on resolving long-running issues, including the unexplained presence of uranium traces at undeclared sites.
IAEA head Rafael Grossi will visit Tehran on Wednesday, Iranian media reported, in an attempt to narrow gaps between Tehran and the agency over unresolved issues.
“Continued engagement and cooperation with the agency is essential at a time when diplomatic solutions are urgently needed,” Grossi said on X on Monday.
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