Eyal Zamir, who currently serves as Defense Ministry Director-General, is the lead candidate to replace IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi, who announced his resignation on Tuesday.
Halevi announced his resignation in a letter sent to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday, keeping his promise that he would take responsibility for the failure in the October 7 massacre.
Zamir, a former deputy IDF chief who came in second place to Halevi during the last race for IDF chief, was also the favored candidate of Netanyahu at the time.
However, at that point, Yair Lapid was the prime minister, and then defense minister Benny Gantz made the call to appoint Halevi.
Another top candidate is outgoing deputy IDF chief Maj. Gen. Amir Baram, who did not get along with Halevi and was closer to Halevi’s predecessor, Aviv Kohavi.
