Senior and staff-level active duty and reserve officers from the IDF’s Ground Forces criticized Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir during a Wednesday forum.
The criticisms included a series of statements and decisions that they said were disconnected from the reality on the ground, harmed reservists’ motivation, and were interpreted as crossing a political line.
The forum, convened by Ground Forces chief Maj.-Gen. Nadav Lotan, was attended by officers ranked lieutenant-colonel and above, with Zamir in attendance.
The main topics discussed at the forum were lessons the military learned from the October 7 massacre probes, findings from combat operations during the Israel-Hamas War, training and instruction of personnel, underground warfare, and operational safety.
During his remarks, Zamir reiterated points he had made in previous statements, saying that the military had completed its October 7 probes and drawn lessons from them.
Zamir then delivered another message to the political echelon, saying, “Everyone needs to investigate themselves.” Officers present perceived this as particularly political.
Additional criticism was directed at Zamir’s discussion of multi-year and other future plans for the military, while officers in the field are struggling with personal military equipment shortfalls and with the scope and quality of weapons systems, the officers added.
Reserve officers also criticized remarks by the head of combat fitness. According to him, the discussion of fitness tests ignores the central problems they address, foremost among them deep burnout and the increasing difficulty of recruiting reservists for various activities after hundreds of days of service.
During the discussion, a reservist battalion commander stood up to clarify that the General Staff’s decision to end the previous service methods undermines fighter motivation. Until now, combat reservists have operated under a one-week-in-service, one-week-leave schedule.
The new method, introduced by Personnel Directorate chief Maj.-Gen. Dado Bar Kalifa, instructs reservists to be called up for a 10-day service cycle followed by four days of leave. This harms recruitment prospects, the officer alleged.
Others present said that the decision made it difficult to fill the ranks across various battalions and limited commanders’ flexibility to serve in the reserves for extended periods. Some brigade commanders, they said, are aligned with Kalifa’s instructions while others ignore the directive to preserve recruitment motivation.
Zamir affirmed that he would examine the issue in discussions, but emphasized that the military has a set quota of reserve duty days.
Zamir: Israel will always be under risk of surprise attack
Referring to the threat perception, he said that the basic assumption is that there will always be a risk of a surprise attack. According to him, the only way Israel can be defeated is by a surprise attack; therefore, as told to the officers present, there is no longer any discussion of concentrated leave, but rather an emphasis on readiness and alertness.
Zamir also said that the concept of intelligence superiority must be removed from the discourse and emphasized to those present that the IDF does not possess it.
He said that the military must be prepared for surprise on all borders and at all outposts. Soon, Zamir added, the IDF would move from a state of war to a state of emergency, which would require training, discipline, and strengthening the foundations, as well as the human elements, in readiness for surprises on seven fronts.
The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said that it does not comment on statements made in closed forums.