Continuous Clash Between Katz and Zamir Over Investigations and Appointments in the Army

SadaNews - Tensions continue to rise publicly between Israel's Chief of Staff, Eyal Zamir, and Security Minister Israel Katz, against the backdrop of the investigations and appointments in the army led by Zamir, which Katz opposes.

Katz responded to Zamir's implementation of several appointments for officers in various military positions and his directive to form a special investigative team to examine the "Jericho Wall" plan.

Katz stated that "the issue of investigations and appointments in the army is of great importance in light of the events of October 7, and is unrelated to any personal or political aspect."

He added that "during the tenure of the previous Chief of Staff, I emphasized the need to complete the investigations as soon as possible as a condition for the appointment of new leaders. In fact, following the publication of the investigations, the Chief of Staff and several senior officers resigned, and others were appointed."

Katz said that "Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir proposed to me after his appointment his intention to form a committee headed by reserve officer Sami Terjuman to examine the investigations and study the need for changes in them or to complete them. He received my support for this step. After the committee's work was completed, I was presented with the report and recommendations. A central part of the recommendations was the need to re-investigate matters that were conducted improperly and to complete investigations that were not investigated, including a matter of great importance like the ‘Jericho Wall’ – Hamas's plan to take down the Gaza division, which Israeli intelligence uncovered back in 2018 and did not receive proper attention.

He indicated that "I expected the Chief of Staff to act according to the committee's recommendations and to complete and deepen the investigations, but I was surprised when he summoned officers and imposed various sanctions on them without informing me of such an important step and without consulting with me."

Katz continued, "Since I am the one who approves the appointment of senior officers in the army from the rank of Colonel and above, I tasked the security agencies’ auditor, the duly authorized professional body, with completing the investigations and presenting the results to me so that I could consider my position regarding the senior appointments. I asked the Chief of Staff to wait 30 days on the appointments file so that I would have the necessary information and we could work according to the procedure we established, which includes prior consultations, but the Chief of Staff did not respond to my request and held the appointment session."

He explained, "In everything related to army operations in various arenas, they are conducted through direct and continuous communication between me and the Chief of Staff and army leadership, as well as through many joint sessions chaired by the Prime Minister, and this has no relation to the aforementioned issue. The army is subject to the decisions of the political level and the Prime Minister, and my role as Security Minister is to ensure that the army is obligated to implement the decisions made, and I have done and will continue to do so in the future for the benefit of the security and state of Israel."

Zamir had called in a document circulated to senior army officers, based on the conclusions of the committee led by Terjuman, for the establishment of an official investigative committee, saying that "the relationship between the political level and the military level must be studied," and that "the Israeli army bore responsibility and investigated itself, but this is not its sole task, and it is not worthy of directing all the lights toward it only."