Deputy Chief of General Staff (IDF)

The deputy chief of staff traditionally coordinates General Staff work on IDF force buildup, operating above the head of the Planning Directorate and under the chief of staff's direction.[1] The deputy also coordinates the Ministry of Defense Budget Division head and the director of Research, Development, Weapons and Technological Infrastructure — entities that straddle the IDF and the civilian ministry — and supervises General Staff implementation of the chief of staff's long-term plan.[1] This work requires coordination across IDF branches, the Ministry of Defense, and outside bodies such as the Finance Ministry, including coordinating the IDF's position on the military budget and streamlining efforts.[1]

A 2017 Ynet report characterized the position, in effect, as the "CEO of the army," distinguishing it from the chief of staff's role in setting strategy and commanding the military.[3] The role generally receives little public exposure and has limited direct involvement in developing battles at the front, with its work focused on force buildup behind the scenes and in the chief of staff's shadow.[4] The chief of staff may assign additional duties, including operational missions.[1]

The IDF's ground forces, air force, and navy operate under a unified command led by the chief of staff, a lieutenant general who reports to the minister of defense.[5] The deputy position sits directly below the chief of staff. A 2018 INSS analysis said the office was not expressly defined in Basic Law: The Military.[1]

The deputy's combined role as second-in-command and head of the General Staff Branch traces to Mordechai Maklef's appointment as deputy chief of staff in October 1949.[6] The following month, Chief of Staff Yigael Yadin appointed Maklef to head the General Staff Branch as well — a combination that, in the words of the INSS analysis, "entrenched — for decades — the role of deputy chief of staff" as also head of that branch.[6] In that General Staff Branch capacity, a supreme-command order assigned the deputy duties that included coordinating General Staff branches and subordinate bodies, shaping IDF security doctrine in line with government policy, maintaining war readiness and contingency planning, and bearing responsibility for force building, equipment, preparedness, doctrine, and safety.[6]

The structure remained largely stable for decades before being disturbed by organizational reforms in the late 1990s. The Operations Branch was established in late 1999 and assumed some functions previously associated with the General Staff Branch, creating uncertainty over who held overall responsibility for parts of General Staff work.[6] In 2005, Chief of Staff Dan Halutz responded by formally defining two tracks: force buildup under the deputy chief of staff and force deployment under the head of the Operations Branch.[6] Halutz assigned the deputy three distinct roles — second-in-command and stand-in for the chief of staff, coordinator of General Staff work as head of staff of IDF headquarters, and coordinating authority for force buildup.[6]

The Second Lebanon War of 2006 interrupted the implementation of Halutz's framework. When Gabi Ashkenazi became chief of staff in early 2007, the arrangement shifted again, and work began on an order regulating General Staff and headquarters responsibilities.[6] A 2007 news report described the deputy as functioning "in effect as the head of the army staff" and as responsible for the defense budget, particularly in connection with the multi-year "Tefen" plan scheduled to begin in 2008.[7]

Force buildup is the deputy's central institutional responsibility. This includes helping prepare the IDF for war, allocating resources through the work plan, overseeing the force-enhancement strategy for the coming decade, and coordinating military capabilities across branches.[8][3] The deputy coordinates the IDF's position on the military budget and liaises with the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Defense Budget Division, and the director of R&D, Weapons and Technological Infrastructure.[1]

The scope of the role extends to day-to-day institutional management. When 33 weapons were stolen from the Givati camp at Sde Teiman, then-Deputy Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi convened General Staff leaders and pressed for tighter checks on workers entering bases, more inspections of weapons rooms and ammunition depots, and common security standards across installations.[3] Almost NIS 90 million was approved for improving the physical and technological security of arms rooms, ammunition depots, explosives stores, and other weapons facilities.[3]

The deputy can also serve as acting chief of staff when formally designated. Before Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot underwent surgery in January 2017, Eisenkot appointed deputy Yair Golan as acting chief of staff and transferred responsibility for carrying out decisions already made.[2] Reporting at the time characterized this as established practice and noted that a deputy serving in this capacity was not expected to make fundamental or long-term decisions.[2] The Israel Ministry of Defense confirms that Amir Baram, who served as deputy from 2022 to 2025, functioned as acting chief of staff when required.[8]

The deputy is ordinarily appointed through the process used for other senior General Command Staff appointments: recommendation by the chief of staff and approval by the defense minister.[1] A 2022 appointment illustrates the process in practice: Defense Minister Benny Gantz announced Amir Baram for the role after recommendations from then-Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi and incoming chief Herzi Halevi, with Baram assuming the position on October 31, 2022.[9] On February 14, 2025, Defense Minister Israel Katz appointed Major General Tamir Yadai as deputy to incoming chief of staff Eyal Zamir.[10]

The deputy's usual term is approximately two years — generally half the chief of staff's four-year term, including an extension year.[1][4] The short term and succession tradition were intended to prepare two veteran generals to compete for the top post.[1] The deputy's selection can materially affect who becomes the next chief of staff because the position places a general among the leading candidates for the top command.[1]

The ordinary appointment process for the deputy differs from that of the chief of staff, whose appointment involves government approval and review by the Advisory Committee on Senior Civil Service Appointments.[1] A political dispute arose in one appointment cycle when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed a role in approving the deputy, while Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman argued that approval belonged to the defense minister alone.[1]

Several holders of the post have gone on to become chief of staff or have otherwise shaped Israeli security affairs. Amnon Lipkin-Shahak was appointed deputy to Chief of Staff Ehud Barak in 1991 and also headed the Operations Branch.[11] In May of that year, while serving as deputy, he commanded Operation Solomon, the airlift that brought Ethiopian Jews to Israel.[1][11] He was subsequently appointed by the Cabinet on October 9, 1994, to become chief of the IDF General Staff on January 1, 1995, succeeding Barak.[11]

Ezer Weizman served as deputy chief of staff under Yitzhak Rabin in 1966.[12] When Rabin fell ill before the 1967 Six-Day War, Weizman — then head of the Operations Directorate — replaced him at the request of Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, while Haim Bar-Lev was the newly appointed deputy chief of staff.[1] Weizman retired from the IDF in 1969.[12]

Yekutiel Adam served as deputy chief of staff around 1980, as documented in a National Library of Israel archival photograph dated March 26, 1980.[13] Amir Drori, commander of the IDF Northern Front during the events examined by the Kahan Commission, was reprimanded for not taking anticipatory action regarding the Phalanges' mission; he nonetheless completed his duty and was promoted to IDF deputy chief of staff in September 1986.[14]

Yair Golan served as deputy chief of staff from December 2014 to 2017.[15] He stood in as acting chief of staff when Eisenkot underwent surgery in January 2017.[2] A Jerusalem Center biography records that Uzi Dayan served as head of Central Command before becoming deputy chief of the General Staff, and later became chairman of Israel's National Security Council and National Security Adviser to the prime minister.[16]

Eyal Zamir served as deputy from 2018 to 2021 under Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi, coordinating implementation of the IDF's "Tnufa" multi-year plan and managing military assistance to the civilian sector during the COVID-19 pandemic and Operation Guardian of the Walls.[17] Zamir was selected as chief of staff on February 1, 2025, and officially replaced Herzi Halevi on March 5, 2025.[17] Herzi Halevi became deputy in July 2021 and dealt with force buildup, long-term strategic planning, economic issues, and IDF personnel matters, including career officers' pension entitlements, before ascending to the top post.[18][19]

Amir Baram served as deputy from 2022 to 2025, overseeing the IDF's force-build-up development strategy and coordinating military capabilities for the force-enhancement program for the coming decade.[8] Tamir Yadai entered the deputy post in March 2025 under Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, replacing Baram.[20] His earlier career included command of the Golani Brigade, the Judea and Samaria Division, the Home Front Command, Central Command, and the Ground Forces.[10] In 2025, Yadai and Planning and Force Design Directorate chief Vice Admiral Eyal Harel led a broad force-buildup effort addressing lessons from the ongoing war, with proposals including strengthened border-defense units, an eastern regional division, revival of the 500th Armored Brigade, and expanded air-defense and naval capabilities.[21] On October 6, 2026, Ynetnews identified Yadai as deputy chief of staff.[22]

The deputy post has long functioned as a conventional, though not mandatory, pathway to the chief of staff position. The INSS analysis describes the deputy as usually a veteran general and often one of the leading candidates for the next chief of staff, while noting that service as deputy is not a prerequisite and citing "very few exceptions" to the succession tradition.[1] A 2022 profile described the role as "almost an apprenticeship" and noted that Herzi Halevi's appointment as deputy placed him in the contest to succeed Aviv Kochavi.[19] That selection process involved Halevi, former deputy Eyal Zamir, and Yoel Strick.[19]

The tradition is a reported pattern, not a formal qualification. Eyal Zamir, for instance, had been considered for the chief of staff position in both 2018 and 2022 but was not selected on either occasion before ultimately assuming the role in 2025.[17] The deputy's selection can shape the field for chief of staff succession because of the seniority and visibility the post confers, but the government retains authority over the final chief-of-staff appointment.[1]

A 2018 INSS analysis described the position's legal foundations as incompletely defined. It said Basic Law: The Military identifies the chief of staff as the military's highest command level and sets out the chief's relationship to the government and defense minister, but does not address a deputy chief of staff or specify who replaces the chief during absence or incapacity.[1] According to that analysis, the deputy's authority derived from powers assigned by the chief of staff.[1]

INSS said replacement of the chief of staff by the deputy was not automatic and that ad hoc arrangements had been used when needed.[1] It recommended legislating a default replacement arrangement while allowing the government to appoint someone else, and noted that earlier bills addressing the issue had not become law.[1] A 2017 news report similarly said the acting-chief arrangement and limits on an acting deputy were not set out in binding law at that time. It described a state comptroller recommendation in 2013 and a 2014 proposed law that would have required approval from the chief of staff, defense minister, and prime minister; the proposal had stalled.[2] These sources document the legal issue in 2017 and 2018 but do not establish whether later legislation changed the framework.

The deputy's organizational responsibilities have also produced structural tensions. The INSS historical analysis characterized the deputy's combined General Staff responsibilities as producing an "odd command structure," in which the chief of staff acted operationally through the deputy while also directing other staff branches directly.[6] The analysis noted that coordination through branch heads with multiple responsibilities could leave the operational process with insufficient attention — an organizational critique rather than a settled description of the current arrangement.[6]