Katz and Zamir confirmed new appointments in the army, Reserve Colonel Herman Giltman

A meeting took place in Jerusalem today, which was almost not reported in advance. Defense Minister Israel Katz and Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir closed the office and discussed personnel changes in the senior command of the IDF for several hours. According to participants, the meeting was calm, without sharp deviations, but the key decisions turned out to be far from formal.

The list of appointments was prepared in advance, and most items did not cause discussions. But there was an exception — the case of reserve Colonel Herman Giltman. He was the only one whose promotion the defense minister rejected after preliminary approval.

The story with Giltman began last week. Zamir proposed to promote him to the rank of brigadier general and appoint him as the commander of the Ground Forces Center. Formally, Giltman passed all verification stages: service in the General Staff, work as a military attaché in Moscow, experience as a reservist. But Katz reversed the decision the next day.

The reason — Giltman’s participation in protest movements against judicial reform. And not just participation: he was one of the prominent speakers of the “Brothers in Arms” initiative. Katz saw this as a conflict of values and made it clear that the line between political position and military discipline, in his opinion, was crossed.

Giltman himself explained his position in detail earlier. Born in Zhytomyr and repatriated to Israel in 1990, he emphasized that he served the country precisely as a democracy. At a press conference, he spoke about “moral constraints” and that he could not support a system “if it refuses to be democratic.” The quote quickly spread across news channels.

Katz, in turn, spoke harshly: those who call for refusal of service cannot claim promotion within the army. For the minister, this is not a personal conflict, but a principle related to the overall stability of the IDF — especially during a period when the army is going through a difficult phase.

However, the meeting was not limited to the dispute over one officer. Among the agreed appointments — the promotion of another candidate to brigadier general, twenty-eight new colonels, as well as the promotion of the current brigadier general and nine colonels. Essentially, this is one of the largest personnel blocks in recent months.

But there is another important detail. On November 24, Giltman, who until today participated in the processes of appointment approvals, announced the suspension of all personnel decisions in the IDF. His move was a reaction to the conclusions of the Turjeman Commission — an independent body that studied the actions of the command after the events of October 7. The report of this commission raised questions both within the army and among civilian structures, as well as hints of possible disagreements between the defense minister and the chief of staff.

These processes form the background against which today’s appointments become not just a personnel package, but a reflection of the state of the entire military power vertical. We continue to monitor how the situation will develop in the coming weeks, as such decisions show in which direction the military leadership of Israel is moving — this is detailed by the editorial staff of NAnews — News of Israel | Nikk.Agency.