The military’s Ground Forces were in a state of uncertainty Wednesday as Defense Minister Israel Katz delayed the appointment of officers to key roles, leading Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir to announce temporary appointments to fill some of the gaps.
Katz, meanwhile, said that he would continue to work with Zamir despite their public spat over the military’s October 7 investigations and senior appointments in the Israel Defense Forces.
In September, Katz refused to approve the appointment of Brig. Gen. Manor Yanai as the chief of staff at the Ground Forces to replace Maj. Gen. Rami Abudraham, who was promoted to chief of the Technological and Logistics Directorate.
Yanai was previously chief of staff at the Southern Command, serving in the role since before the October 7, 2023, attack. But his role is largely administrative and focuses on building up forces, not deploying them.
Katz has said he would not approve the promotion of any senior officer who served in the Southern Command on October 7, despite Zamir recently deciding — based on an external review of the IDF’s October 7 probes — that there is no issue with promoting Yanai.
Get The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition
by email and never miss our top stories
By signing up, you agree to the terms
As a result, the Ground Forces has been without a chief of staff — an administrative role akin to a deputy to the commander of the Ground Forces — since September, delaying critical planning processes.
Zamir has forgone trying to get Yanai’s promotion approved and instead quietly appointed Brig. Gen. Yair Natans, the chief of the Artillery Corps, to serve as the next Ground Forces chief of staff.
Ground Forces chief Maj. Gen. Nadav Lotan (right) shakes hands with the incoming Ground Forces chief of staff Brig. Gen. Yair Natans, during a handover ceremony for the chief of the Artillery Corps, in Zichron Yaakov on November 25, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF made no formal announcement of Natans’s appointment, but rather only mentioned it in a press release on the handover of the Artillery Corps chief role, which took place on Tuesday.
Natans was replaced by Brig. Gen. Ehud Bibi, who, according to the IDF’s announcement, would serve as acting Artillery Corps chief until a permanent appointment is made.
Bibi served as the head of the Ground Forces’ personnel division, which now leaves another critical position vacant.
Natans would enter the role of Ground Forces chief of staff in the coming weeks, the IDF said.
Defense Minister Israel Katz (left) and IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, June 2025. (Ariel Harmoni / Defense Ministry)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met separately on Tuesday with Katz and with Zamir in an effort to de-escalate tensions. While reports on Monday said Netanyahu had intended to summon both senior officials for a meeting, he eventually opted to first meet Katz alone, and then sit down alone with Zamir.
Katz and Zamir would both attend a wider security meeting on Wednesday evening, convened by Netanyahu, the Prime Minister’s Office told The Times of Israel.
“Regarding the chief of staff, we have worked, are working, and will work together in everything related to the operational arenas of the State of Israel on all fronts. We work together with the prime minister… and we will continue to work, and there is constant dialogue,” Katz said during a Knesset plenum session on Wednesday
“We scheduled in advance a work meeting tomorrow that we will definitely hold. Yesterday, we participated in a discussion with the prime minister on an important issue regarding Judea and Samaria (West Bank). We are working, working all the time,” he said.
“There is some disagreement regarding the issue of investigations and the need to deepen them in accordance with the recommendations of the Turgeman committee,” Katz said, referring to a panel of former senior officers that reviewed the IDF’s internal October 7 investigations.
Katz said his decision to appoint the defense establishment comptroller to examine the report by Maj. Gen. (res.) Sami Turgeman is necessary so that he can rule on senior appointments in the IDF.
“I have no doubt that I represent a very broad public interest in knowing what happened on October 7. The public also wants to know. The bereaved families also want to know,” he added.
Defense Minister Israel Katz speaks during a Knesset plenum session, in Jerusalem, on November 26, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Katz and Zamir traded barbs on Monday after the former ordered a re-investigation of the military’s external review of its earlier internal probes into the failures surrounding the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack.
Katz had announced his decision a day after Zamir dismissed several senior officers and censured others for their roles in the October 7 failures, based on Turgeman’s probe, which found the IDF’s own investigations into its failures inadequate or unacceptable.
In response, Zamir accused Katz of political interference and harming the military’s preparedness by freezing senior promotions — which the defense minister must approve — for 30 days.
Katz has been fighting a months-long, escalating campaign against Zamir over senior IDF appointments by selectively promoting officers and denying the appointments of others with whom he apparently does not see eye to eye. Some military officials have warned that Katz is attempting to politicize the army by taking control of senior appointments, something the defense minister has denied.
As part of the feud, the defense minister has yet to rule on the appointments for three major general roles, with the officers currently staffing them nearing the end of their tenures.
Lazar Berman contributed to this report.
You appreciate our journalism
You clearly find our careful reporting valuable, in a time when facts are often distorted and news coverage often lacks context.
Your support is essential to continue our work. We want to continue delivering the professional journalism you value, even as the demands on our newsroom have grown dramatically since October 7.
So today, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6 a month you’ll become our partners while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel