Eyal Zamir officially assumed his role as IDF Chief of Staff on Wednesday, with the rank of Lieutenant General, during an appointment ceremony at the Kirya in Tel Aviv. The event was led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yisrael Katz. Following the ceremony, with outgoing Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi on hand.
Zamir, 59, was born and raised in Eilat as the eldest of three children of Yaffa and Shlomo Zamir. His paternal grandfather, Aharon, made Aliyah from Yemen in the 1920s, served as a fighter in the Irgun, and was wounded twice. Zamir’s mother, a member of the Abadi family from Aleppo, was born in Israel and grew up in Jerusalem. Zamir is a graduate of the Military Command Boarding School in Tel Aviv, which, at the time, operated alongside the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium.
On April 28, 1972, retired Prime Minister David Ben Gurion wrote the first Yemenite Jew who served as Speaker of the Knesset: “For many years I have yearned for a Yemenite IDF Chief of Staff, but unfortunately, I have not yet had the privilege of seeing him. However, if they handed over the leadership of the Knesset to a Yemenite Jew, I believe that soon we will also be able to see a Yemenite Chief of Staff.”
Even in Israel’s reality of Ashkenazi and Sephardic “intermarriages,” a Yemenite chief of staff is cause for celebration.
Zamir is also the first Chief of Staff to begin his military career in the Armored Corps, serving as a tank crew member. Following his appointment to head the IDF, he concluded his tenure as Director General of the Defense Ministry on February 6, 2025. About a week later, he returned to service in uniform in preparation for his inauguration as Chief of Staff.
Many in Israel have pointed to an article by Zamir that was published in 2007 in the IDF bimonthly magazine Maarachot as proof that he, too, was trapped in the mindset of the “Conceptzia.” The article, titled, “Moral Combat against Terrorism,” questioned, “Is it justified to drop a one-ton bomb on a building to eliminate a dangerous terrorist leader, even if innocent people are also killed in the process? When would such an action be considered legitimate and when should it be avoided?”
In the article, Zamir contends that it is preferable to arrest a terrorist rather than kill him. He emphasizes that determining whether someone is a terrorist requires a strong and clear evidence base. Additionally, Zamir argues that combating terrorism in areas with civilian populations must be done while minimizing harm to those civilians. He asserts that actions such as starving an enemy population, cutting off access to water, and depriving them of medical resources are immoral and unjustifiable.
It so happens that Chief of Staff Zamir assumes command over the IDF on the week when Israel has halted humanitarian aid to Gaza, and is contemplating disconnecting electricity and other services to the terrorist-run Strip. Have his values changed in light of the 18 years that passed since the article?
On December 13, 2018, Zamir was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff, a position he held until July 11, 2021. In a speech marking the end of his term, Zamir argued that Israel was likely to face a prolonged, multi-faceted campaign, along with internal challenges and threats on multiple fronts. He emphasized that to succeed, Israel would require decisiveness, resilience, a robust reserve force, advanced technological capabilities, and a critical mass of high-quality personnel.
Like it or not, it will now be his job to reshape the IDF to meet all his recommendations.
On June 13, 2022, then-Defense Minister Benny Gantz announced the start of the selection process for the 23rd Chief of Staff of the IDF. On July 17, Gantz revealed that he had narrowed the list down to Herzi Halevi and Zamir, and on September 4, he announced that he had chosen Halevi for the position.
Shortly after Yoav Gallant was appointed Defense Minister, he selected Zamir as Director General of the Defense Ministry, and Zamir officially assumed the role on February 1, 2023. During his tenure, which included the Iron Swords War, Zamir stressed the importance of strengthening Israel’s military capabilities through local industry to reduce reliance on ammunition supplies from the United States.
Following Israel Katz’s appointment as Defense Minister in November 2024, replacing Gallant, Zamir requested to step down but agreed to stay on at Katz’s request until a successor was appointed. On February 1, 2025, Minister Katz and Prime Minister Netanyahu announced Zamir as their candidate to succeed Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi. His appointment was unanimously confirmed by the government on February 16, 2025.
