Posted on 02/02/25
| News Source: Times of Israel
Politicians across the political spectrum welcome the nomination of Maj. Gen. (res.) Eyal Zamir to become the next Israel Defense Forces chief of staff.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid calls the current Defense Ministry director-general the “the right person for the job” while The Democrats’ chairman Yair Golan lauds him as “a talented officer and leader [who] will have to deal with the task of rebuilding the army, and with the burden of protecting the IDF from a dangerous and corrupt political echelon.”
MK Yuli Edelstein (Likud), the chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, says that Zamir is entering his position “at an intense and fateful time” and will have the “historic task of shaping the face of the IDF for future generations.”
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Otzma Yehudit chairman Itamar Ben Gvir both call on Zamir to reshape the IDF to be more aggressive and to shed alleged defeatist ideas about national security that are allegedly prevalent among its leadership.
“The Israeli people expect him to lead the IDF very quickly to a drastic change in the concept of security and complete victory on all fronts,” Smotrich declares, adding that Zamir will have to replace many people on the IDF general staff with “combative and determined commanders of the generation of victory.”
“This is the time to break free from the conceptions of the past, restore deterrence, and act with a strong hand against terrorism,” says Ben Gvir.
In a video message, National Unity chairman and former IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz calls Zamir “an experienced commander, with values and a broad strategic vision [who] is certain to promote the mobilization of the Haredim and all populations, and to preserve the IDF as the people’s army.”