Overview
- On Sunday evening Defense Minister Israel Katz told a Channel 14 audience he will appoint Maj. Gen. Dado Bar Kalifa to lead IDF Central Command and effectively replace Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth.
- The IDF said Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir was not informed of Katz’s announcement and that it does not intend to change key commanders during this sensitive period.
- Katz said the move followed a disagreement over the handling of settler suspect Tal Yinon Dardik, saying he opposed a restraining or administrative order and criticized the military legal corps for appealing Dardik’s release.
- Katz’s office says Zamir recommended Bar Kalifa months earlier and that the appointment was expected in the next personnel round, while Katz later denied he had publicly dismissed Bluth and called reports otherwise a political campaign.
- The episode has drawn wide criticism from military, political, and settler leaders, and it highlights strain on civilian control norms because Central Command oversees the volatile West Bank and issues like administrative detention and restraining orders are deeply contested.