What’s happened: An Israeli judge has lifted a longstanding gag order preventing reporting on the ongoing “Qatargate” scandal, citing a lack of enforcement resulting in its redundancy.

• It can now be reported that Qatar is alleged to have paid two associates of Prime Minister Netanyahu – Jonathan Urich and Eli Feldstein – to promote pro-Qatari stories in the Israeli media.
• Gulf-based Israeli businessman, Gil Birger, can now also be named as a suspect for allegedly funnelling Qatari cash to Feldstein via an American lobbyist (Jay Footlik).
• Birger was interviewed in connection with the case by the Israeli Police on Monday, and admitted to transferring funds to Footlik in a recording played by Kan News.
• Yesterday, police held a ‘confrontation’ between Urich and Feldstein, after they gave conflicting versions as to the circumstances of the payments Footlik made to Feldstein.
• Responding to all these developments, PM Netanyahu yesterday released a video in which he asserted that Qatar was not listed as an enemy state, and is a “complex country” which “many praise”. He also described Urich as a “dedicated employee”, stating that he never had any access to classified intelligence material.
• “Do you know who really praised Qatar?” Netanyahu asked rhetorically. “Yair Lapid, Benny Gantz, Ronen Bar.  The GSS director was invited by Qataris to a special seat at the World Cup. Qatar is a complicated country, but it is not an enemy country. They are doing this in order to topple a right-wing government.”
• The editor of the Jerusalem Post’s, Zvika Klein, has also been interviewed under caution in connection with the case, allegedly on suspicion of being in contact with a foreign agent, and has been placed under house arrest.
• Klein visited Qatar for three days in 2024 as a guest of the government, a trip which was subsequently reported on in the Jerusalem Post. Responding to the reports, Klein has asserted that his visit to Qatar was at the government’s direct invitation, his only contact with Feldstein had been on his return, and only in a PR capacity.
• This morning, several other journalists were asked to come to Lahav 433 headquarters to give statements to the police.
• The Israeli Police’s Lahav 433 unit which specialises in combating particularly serious crimes is also reported to have expressed concerns to the court over a conflict of interests. Urich’s lawyer, Amit Hadad, is also representing the Prime Minister in his own criminal cases.
• The Israeli Bar Association’s ethics committee has since written to Hadad requesting an explanation as to how representing the Prime Minister, Urich, and another suspect currently residing abroad (the Serbian-based Yisrael Einhorn) without causing a conflict of interests.
• The Israeli Police are also seeking to interview Einhorn, but as a witness rather than a suspect at this time. Einhorn is a former Netanyahu aide living and working in Serbia as an advisor to President Aleksandar Vučić. The police suspect that in the course of 2024, when Einhorn served as an adviser to Minister Yisrael Katz, he was allegedly privy to classified information and may have been involved in the leaking of the “Hamas document” that was leaked by the prime minister’s aides in the classified documents affair to the Bild. Einhorn also reportedly helped in the efforts to deliver munitions to Israel early in the war.
• According to Channel 12 News, Qatar has denied being aware that Feldstein worked with the Prime Minister’s Office, instead primarily viewing him as a right-wing and religious communications professional more able to reach a demographic Doha had thus far struggled to engage with.

Context: While Netanyahu not a suspect, his reaction has been to defend his associates while attacking those seeking to prosecute them as a political witch hunt.

• Based on the facts that are now known in the affair, Qatari funds were paid to Netanyahu’s closest advisers in exchange for a campaign that allegedly was designed to advance Qatar’s interests – often contrary to the State of Israel’s declared interests.
• Some of the pro-Qatari messages allegedly spread in the Israeli media were intended to position Doha as an effective ceasefire and hostage release negotiation mediator while undermining Egypt.
• In previous military operations between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, Egypt was considered the main mediator to bring about a ceasefire. Ruled by General Sisi and heavily opposed to the Muslim Brotherhood, the Egyptian government had traditionally been preferred by Israel.
• Sisi’s government also has sometimes tense relations with Qatar. In 2017, Egypt joined with other Gulf countries in suspending diplomatic ties with Qatar and introducing a blockade, moves that were reversed in 2021.
• There has been some concern in placing Klein under house arrest seemingly connected to his meetings in Qatar, which would generally come under the regular workings of a journalist.  The Union of Journalists issued a statement decrying Klein’s arrest, which it said might damage the confidentiality of sources and have a chilling effect on other journalists.

Looking ahead: On 8th April, the Israeli High Court will hold a hearing where it will decided whether or not Ronen Bar can be removed as Shin Bet’s Director.

• Netanyahu has stated that Bar’s tenure as agency Director should end by 10th April. After a U-turn within 24 hours in the appointment of Eli Sharvit, Netanyahu has now said he will appoint deputy head of the agency as the temporary head of the agency.
• Only known by one of his initials (S), he will act as Shin Bet Director until Bar’s replacement is found and takes up the post.
• The police asked the court to extend the remands of Jonathan Urich and Eli Feldstein by an additional seven days.

U-turn: Less than 24 hours after the announcement, the prime minister has rescinded the appointment of Rear Admiral Eli Sharvit as a potential successor for Shin Bet Director, Ronen Bar.

• Although no specific reasons were given, it is being suggested that members of the governing coalition objected to his appointment on account of Sharvit’s participation in the demonstrations against the judicial reforms.
• In addition, he had written an op-ed critical of President Trump’s environmental policies. This led to criticism of the appointment in the US by Senator Lindsey Graham of the Republican Party, who referred to it as “beyond problematic.”
• Netanyahu met with Sharvit last night and told him that he intends to consider other candidates for the job.
• Sharvit apparently responded by saying, “what is best for the country and its security is above all else.”
• Leader of the Opposition Lapid attacked the prime minister, accusing him of damaging Israel’s national security. Lapid said that the appointment of a Shin Bet director ought to be sacrosanct, adding that the public no longer had any confidence in the October 7th government.

Qatargate: Yesterday, the Israeli Police summoned Prime Minister Netanyahu for questioning about his aides’ alleged financial ties to Qatar.

• Police questioned  the prime minister shortly after two leading suspects, Jonathan Urich and Eli Feldstein were arrested.
• Both Urich and Feldstein are known to be close to the Prime Minister, having served as his media adviser and spokesman for military affairs, respectively.
• The summons were issued while the prime minister was testifying at his own criminal trial, causing him to leave early to be interviewed by specialist investigators.
• In parallel, the investigation into the two men is being jointly conducted by the Israeli Police’s specialist Lahav 433 unit, and Shin Bet. It is currently subject to a court-ordered gag which has prevented the majority of details surrounding it from being published.
• The investigation into the two men started following revelations that while still working at the PMO, Feldstein was acting on Qatari instructions via an international firm to brief journalists on pro-Doha stories.
• Separately, Feldstein had also been charged with harming national security by leaking classified materials to international journalists so as to undermine hostage release and ceasefire negotiations.
• Netanyahu’s office responded angrily to the arrests of Urich and Feldstein, accusing police of holding them “as hostages” in a politically motivated move designed to prevent the firing of Shin Bet head Ronen Bar.

Context: Though not a suspect, the Qatargate affair is deeply uncomfortable for Prime Minister Netanyahu. He is presenting it as further evidence of what he perceives as unelected state officials working again the elected leadership and the nefarious influence of the ‘deep state’.       

• Qatar is known to play a duplicitous role in the region. On the one hand it is hosting and facilitating the negotiations over the hostages, whilst at the same time it is the main backer of Hamas and extremist Muslim Brotherhood ideology.         
• The allegations that Qatar has been attempting to whitewash its image in Israel, by indirectly funding someone within the prime minister’s team, has caused shockwaves inside Israel.      
• The day’s developments prompted further widespread public protests, following many large scale demonstrations held in recent weeks, related to numerous government decisions including: the resumption of the war in Gaza and the impact on both Gazans and surviving hostages; the government’s ongoing “judicial reforms”; the firing of Shin Bet head Ronen Bar; and Qatargate.
• Yediot Ahronot’s Nadav Eyal this morning offered a scathing assessment of yesterday’s events. “More than anything,” he wrote, “yesterday laid bare the way the State of Israel is being run… Last night, at the end of a hysterical and awful day in our history, Netanyahu described the two men who were arrested as ‘hostages.’ He couldn’t come up with a better metaphor while dozens of Israelis are being tortured in the tunnels of Gaza. Truth be told, it was apt. Between his efforts to mount a defence in court in the morning against the serious criminal charges he faces, and submitting to a police interview in the afternoon to discuss Qatar’s infiltration of his office, the prime minister certainly had no time left to deal with the hostages in Gaza. Apparently, he didn’t have time even to take a few hours to Google his intended GSS director. Survival is his day job. He only moonlights as prime minister.”
• There was also anger over Netanyahu’s choice of words from across the opposition spectrum. Leader of the National Unity Party Gantz issued a statement saying, “Mr. Prime Minister. While you cleared your schedule for questioning, 59 female and male hostages are counting the seconds. Our hostages, who were kidnapped on your watch, aren’t the people who worked with Qatar in a time of war and were detained for one day for questioning, but the people who have been rotting away in the enemy’s tunnels for 542 days already. Mr. Prime Minister, you are simply out of touch.”
• While the Prime Minister’s Office had announced that Sharvit would be appointed to replace Bar, in any case his appointment still needed approval by a vetting committee as well as the wider cabinet.
• Although the prime minister intends and has attempted to dismiss Bar, he is currently being kept in his post by a high court injunction. However, the injunction does not prevent the prime minister from interviewing potential replacements.

Looking ahead: The police are expected to ask the Rishon Lezion Magistrates Court to extend by nine days the remands of Jonathan Urich and Eli Feldstein.

• Next week  the High Court is scheduled to hear petitions against Bar’s removal as the head of Shin Bet. Meanwhile, the search for his successor will now resume.

What’s happened: The Knesset has passed a Likud-sponsored law which changes the composition of the Judicial Selection Committee that appoints judges. 

• The law was passed with a majority of 67-1 after it was boycotted by the opposition.
• Despite the opposition filing over 70,000 objections during the committee stage in an effort to filibuster the debate, the bill still passed its third and final reading and became law.
• The new law changes the make-up of the selection committee. It removes the two members of the Israel Bar Association and replaces them with two academics to be chosen by politicians, one by the governing coalition and one by the parliamentary opposition. 
• Similarly, the previously held veto enjoyed by the three coalition representatives and three Supreme Court justices on the committee has been removed. Justices will be appointed to circuits with the consent of five members of the committee, one of whom must be a judge, one a coalition representative, and one an opposition representative. Appointments to the Supreme Court will require only the consent of the coalition and opposition.
• The law’s passing was met with major protests outside the Knesset in Jerusalem, and in the streets of Tel Aviv.
• Last night, tens of thousands of people attended a demonstration at Habima Square in Tel Aviv to protest against the government. The demonstration was led by former security establishment officials, including retired Israel Police commissioner Roni Alsheich, who addressed the public that does not often attend demonstrations. Alsheich said: “I call on the national-religious public, many of whom have congratulated me by whispering in my ear and sending me text messages: stop whispering, and come to the square and shout.” 
• The protests were overwhelmingly peaceful, though six people were arrested for disturbing the peace after getting into altercations with police.
• Leader of the National Unity Party Benny Gantz, asserted that Israel’s direction of travel had become “dangerous”, warning , “Democracies die slowly via the disease known as ‘tyranny of the majority.’ The disease spreads slowly until the dark screen falls over the society. That’s how an administration becomes a regime, and the prime minister becomes a dictator. That is the dangerous direction we are moving in.” 
• Justice Minister Levin responded by justifying the new law, arguing that it was necessary as the Israeli judiciary (specifically the High Court of Justice) had “effectively abolished the Knesset.”
• Levin also suggested that the Supreme Court now viewed itself as having “placed itself above the government” which the new law resolved by “putting an end to the friend-brings-friend system used in appointments, ending the conflict of interest that stemmed from the membership of the Bar Association representatives on the committee, and at the same time providing a full response to the concerns raised by opponents of the reform, in particular the government and coalition’s takeover of the judicial selection procedures.”

Context: The bill was jointly proposed by the Justice and Foreign Ministers (Levin and Saar), and positioned as a compromise to the opposition over previous contentious attempts by the government to control all judicial appointments.

• Foreign Minister Saar, who only recently returned to the Likud, attacked the opposition, saying, “When President Yitzhak Herzog proposed a compromise during the previous round of legislation, the opposition agreed with many of the clauses that are similar to our plan. What are you making so much noise and exploding about today?”
• The old committee consisted of nine members, four politicians (the justice minister, another minister, and two backbenchers – one from the government, one from the opposition), three judges and two members of the Israeli Bar Association. Nominees required the support of seven out of nine.
• The new make-up removes the Bar Association representatives and replaces them with two legal academics, one chosen by the government, the other the opposition, thereby increasing the political control of the committee away from legal professionals. The new committee will only require the consent of five members.              
• There is concern than in the Israeli system, unlike other democracies, the judiciary serves as almost the only check and balance on the government. Israel has as unicameral legislature, no written constitution, a president with only ceremonial authority and no federal authority.  
• Others have noted that the law passed yesterday is a diluted version of Justice Minister  Levin’s original reforms, and in any event won’t be implemented until the next Knesset is elected.   
• Minister Levin himself noted yesterday, “The proposal before you is not the proposal, I presented two years ago. Despite the fact that the opposition did not respond to any of my appeals to hold talks, I felt the right thing to do was to change the proposal. The final wording puts an end to the ‘friend brings a friend’ method of nominations and gives a complete answer to the concerns that were raised by the opposition to the reform.” 
• Commenting on the reforms, Israeli NGO the Movement for Quality Government has branded them as a “dangerous politicisation of the judicial system”.
• The bill was passed at a time when the Israeli government was widely accused of undermining the legal checks and balances designed to hold it accountable — most notably by attempting to dismiss Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar after the agency began investigating alleged links between the Prime Minister’s Office and Qatar, and by seeking to remove the Attorney General following repeated clashes with the government.

Looking ahead: Opposition parties and the Movement for Quality Government have immediately filed a number of petitions against the law. 

• It remain to be determined if the justice minister intends to pursue other components of his judicial reform programme that he announced in January 2023.
• In any event, the law passed yesterday will only come into effect after the next general election.
• Elections are due to be held by October 2026, but Israeli governments rarely serve a full term.

What’s happened: The Knesset approved the 2025 budget by a solid 66 to 52 majority, one week before the legal deadline that would have triggered new elections.

• The budget includes across-the-board cuts in every Ministry, affecting education, health, welfare, and transport, as well as broad tax hikes on the working public.
• Unsurprisingly given the security situation, it includes a dramatic rise in defence allocations. Finance Minister Smotrich called it “everything we need to win on the front and on the home front.”
• More controversially, the budget includes over 5 billion shekels (over 1 billion pounds) in what the Israeli media terms “coalition funds.” These amount to large transfers and benefits, mostly to the ultra-Orthodox and settler publics. These include benefits for networks of private religious schools that refuse to teach core curriculum.
• Leader of the Opposition Lapid described this as “stealing the money and future of Israel’s middle class, the productive public that works, pays taxes and enlists in the army.”

Context: Failure to pass a budget by March 31 would have triggered an automatic dissolution of parliament followed by general elections. With polls protecting a disastrous result for the current governing coalition, in power since the election of November 2022, the Likud-led government could not take any risks ahead of the upcoming vote.

• The current coalition has a 68-52 majority in the Knesset. This figure includes four MKs recently added to the coalition by the merger of Gideon Saar’s party with the Likud. Saar and the other three parliamentarians entered parliament as part of Benny Gantz’s opposition list, but split from Gantz about one year into the current parliament, and joined the Likud about a year after that.
• The far-right Jewish Power party led by Itamar Ben-Gvir rejoined the governing coalition with the collapse of the ceasefire in Gaza earlier this month.
• The ultra-Orthodox parties, without whom no conceivable majority exists for Netanyahu, had long threatened to bring down the budget vote unless legislation cementing a sweeping draft exemption for their public was first passed. Such legislation faces enormous constitutional hurdles, and it remains the single most divisive issue in the right wing and religious coalition. Ultimately, both ultra-Orthodox parties supported the budget and its generous provisions for their sectoral interests without getting, for now, any progress on their biggest legislative priority.
• Despite public opinion being decidedly against him and at odds with his government’s position on three burning issues — hostages, draft exemptions, and a commission of inquiry — Netanyahu now has a larger parliamentary majority than before October 7. He has successfully navigated the most significant threat that might have toppled his government in the current period, and will likely now turn his attention to the twin efforts to oust the Attorney General and the director of the Shin Bet.
• Anti-government protests continued in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and elsewhere, largely over three separate issues. Protestors in Tel Aviv demanded a return to the ceasefire and a renewed effort to liberate hostages. In Jerusalem, demonstrates blocked the entrance to the Knesset in protest of the budget. Hostage families protested inside the Knesset. Over the weekend, large demonstrations were held against the firing of the Director of the Shin Bet and the Attorney General, with a general strike threatened if and when the Government violates a Supreme Court ruling on the matter, expected sometime in April.
• Hours after the budget’s approval, the credit agency Moody’s put out a negative forecast for the Israeli economy, in light of both the domestic political situation and the ongoing war. 
• Demonstrations also erupted in northern Gaza against Hamas rule and against the war that Hamas is fighting with Israel. Some protestors openly called for an immediate release of Israeli hostages as a way of ending the war which restarted when a two-month ceasefire collapsed just over one week ago. There were reports that protests had spread from the most northern parts of the Strip closest to Israel to other locations including the Hamas stronghold of Jabalia inside Gaza City, where a 2019 protest against governing authorities was violently suppressed by Hamas forces. 
• A rare public clash between Minister of Defence Katz and the new IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir whose appointment he oversaw appears to have been resolved. Katz had publicly criticised an internal IDF investigation of an officer implicated in leaking classified documents, to which Zamir responded by saying that he didn’t take orders through the media and made clear proper legal procedures inside the army wouldn’t be affected by political pressures from outside.

Looking ahead: Today the Knesset will debate a bill which would alter the makeup of the Judicial Appointments Committee. All such legislation was frozen in the immediate aftermath of October 7. This would take away influence of the Bar Association and give more power to MKs.

• Talks continue in Egypt on a new ceasefire and hostage release with competing reports and conflicting rumours as to their progress. Most of the media coverage in both Arab and Israeli outlets focuses on an Egyptian proposal that, if approved by both sides, would lead to the immediate release of five living hostages (including an Israeli soldier who has dual US and Israeli citizenship). 

What’s happened: The cabinet convened yesterday to discuss and hold a vote of no confidence in the attorney general. This is the first step towards removing her from office.

• The cabinet meeting was chaired by Justice Minister Levin, as the prime minister recused himself, due to his ongoing trial and a conflict of interests.
• Making the case against Baharav-Miara, Levin said, “The attorney general has almost systematically refused to appear before the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee. She ignores ministers’ requests and doesn’t respond to me. She blatantly ignores letters from me, the justice minister, to say nothing of what happens with other ministers. The attorney general operates in complete contradiction to her role, in a way that cannot be described as anything other than political while citing legal impediments in a long list of things. The attorney general is using her technical power to prevent government legislation and has become a sort of veto.” 
• Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara did not attend the meeting but sent a letter outlining her position, “This proposal is not trying to further the cause of confidence, but rather loyalty to the political leadership. It is not about governance, but rather unchecked governmental power as part of a wider programme to weaken the judiciary and to deter all the professional levels. The government wants to be above the law and to act without checks and balances.”
• The ministers voted unanimously in favour of the no-confidence motion. 
• In parallel, thousands demonstrated outside, protesting the government’s decisions to fire both the head of the Shin Bet Ronen Bar, and now Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara. Though unelected, both positions are considered gatekeepers of democratic norms.   
• Among the speakers at the demonstration outside the government meeting included retired Supreme Court Justice Ayala Procaccia. She told the crowd, “We are in the midst of a deep rift that threatens to bring down the entire democratic institution. For the first time, the unwritten agreement that all governments have respected is being violated. Breaking the independence of central institutions and breaking down oversight institutions will cause the face of this country to go from one extreme to the other. Israel will no longer be a free, democratic country but rather a different type of regime that we cannot recognise.” 

Context: The process of firing the head of the Shin Bet and the attorney general will both be discussed by special committees. The decisions could then be appealed in the Supreme Court. 

• Both committees will focus on procedural issues and the apparent conflicts of interests.
• On procedure, the role of director of the Shin Bet will be reviewed by a special advisory committee for senior appointments.
• The office of attorney general is covered by a different special advisory committee comprising a mix of legal scholars, civil servants, and politicians. However two appointments have expired and have not been replaced. One is required to be a former attorney general, the other required to be a former Minister of Justice. Every single living former attorney general, including several appointed by Netanyahu, strongly opposes the firing of Baharav-Miara. 
• On the other side, recent former ministers of justice are known to support her firing. As well as being former justice ministers, both Speaker of the Knesset Amir Ohana and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar are part of the current administration. 
• In Saar’s case, he voted with the cabinet last night, despite being the minister that recommended Baharav-Miara’s appointment in the Bennet led government.  
• To further complicate matters, the person occupying the law professor seat on the committee is Tali Einhorn, a very conservative scholar known to be quite enthusiastic about firing Baharav-Miara, but she too might have to step aside for an obvious conflict of interest, her son, Srulik Einhorn, (an adviser to the prime minister) is one of the three leading suspects in the unfolding “Qatargate” scandal, as well as in the illegal leaks of classified material to the German Bild newspaper last year. He is currently in Serbia, and has refrained from returning to Israel for months in order to avoid police questioning. 
• In any event, the advisory committee’s recommendation are non-binding. However,  given all the procedural difficulties, the Supreme Court might very rule that ignoring both or either violates the now famous “reasonableness clause.” It almost certainly wouldn’t accept a process where the committees have not even been convened.  
• The larger conflict of interest surrounds the prime minister, as the attorney general is prosecuting his corruption trial. He absented himself from the cabinet discussion on her dismissal, but it’s not clear that the Court will be impressed that this is enough. 
• In the case of the Shin Bet director, he cannot absent himself. The Shin Bet is an agency inside the Prime Minister’s Office, and he is the one who requested the director’s dismissal. Here is a different conflict of interest, as it was the Shin Bet that launched an investigation into Qatari influence in the Prime Minister’s Bureau. Ronen Bar himself has all but outright accused Netanyahu of seeking to fire him and replace him with a more pliant director in order to quash this investigation, and this is a version of events that much of the Israeli media has broadly accepted. If the Court accepts it too, it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which it approves the government’s decision to fire Bar. 
• Netanyahu and his closest backers see the events in the exact opposite way: they argue that the entire investigation of Qatari influence was concocted as a way to block Bar’s dismissal. This was the central accusation Netanyahu made in a video he posted Saturday night with “bombshell revelations” about the timing of the investigation. 
• When so much of the investigation classified and under a gag order, it’s not easy to piece together the precise sequence. However, several Israel media reports have suggested that the dates don’t add up in a way that is compatible with Netanyahu’s argument. The Prime Minister’s Bureau was asked to respond to the first Qatargate report in the media one day before it first even suggested dismissing Bar. 

Looking ahead: The Court will consider Bar’s case on April 8^th. 

• The government has given several ambiguous indications that it will ignore a Court ruling it does not like (only one minister, Moshe Arbel of Shas, has explicitly ruled this out). Such a situation would plunge the country into a constitutional crisis and, most likely, a crippling general strike.

What’s happened: On his second day as chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir visited the Gaza Strip accompanied by the outgoing head of Southern Command Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman and other high-ranking officers.

• Zamir met with troops and local civilian leaders, telling them “We must be always on the alert, always tense, always ready, always suspicious, drill constantly. Look behind you, you can see the houses of Sderot. You are defending the residents of Sderot. You have great responsibility. I have confidence in you.”
• His visit followed late night consultations in which he approved a new operational plan if fighting resumes in Gaza as well as the appointments of several senior officers.   
• Among the new appointments is Maj. Gen. Tamir Yadai, who will now serve as deputy chief of staff, replacing Maj. Gen. Amir Baram, who in turn will replace Zamir as director general of the Defence Ministry.
• Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor will be the new head of the Southern Command while Brig. Gen. Itzik Cohen is the new director of the IDF Operations Branch. 
• Among Zamir’s initial plans are:
  • Reestablishing armoured recon platoons that were disbanded a few years ago and consider making one of them an ultra-Orthodox platoon.
  • Offering greater financial support for families of regular service members, career soldiers, and reservists.
  • Disbanding the Strategy and Iran Division next month – a decision already taken – and redistributing responsibilities to different units.
  • Zamir has also said the pictures of the hostages would be on display in his office until they return.

Context: The change in command represent a fresh start for the army as it continues to rehabilitate itself and reconcile with the failures on October 7th following the completion of their internal investigations.

• Zamir has acknowledged the IDF failed its mission on October 7th, but noted the army had emerged “from of the abyss and fought back.”
• Zamir has said that Gaza and Iran are the two most significant challenges he faces, while also recognising the IDF’s moral duty to bring all the hostages home.
• Defence Minister Katz met with the IDF General Staff forum led by Chief of Staff Zamir and presented his objectives for the IDF:
  • First of all Israel’s ability to defend itself by itself, against any threat, both on the front lines and on the home front.
  • Second is removing Iran’s nuclear threat.
  • Third is preserving the strategic alliance with the US.
  • Fourth is building the IDF’s strength as a powerful and triumphant military.
• With no breakthrough in negotiations, the IDF is prepping for the option of resumption in fighting in Gaza. It is anticipated that the new IDF commander favours a more aggressive approach, using far more troops simultaneously in order to shorten the duration of the war.
• However, he will maintain the policy of distinction towards the civilian population in the Gaza Strip and is expected to facilitate the movement of civilians to a safe area for their protected from airstrikes and ground manoeuvres.
• In the latest displays of close coordination with the American military, US CENTCOM Commander General Michael Kurilla visited Israel this week to attend Zamir’s appointment ceremony.
• In addition, the Israeli Air Force conducted a joint aerial exercise with the US Air Force this week. The drill included Israeli F-35i and F-15i fighter jets flew alongside a US B-52 strategic bomber. 

Background: Prior to his appointment Zamir had served as Director General of the Ministry of Defence. As such he was not part of the operational chain of command on October 7th.

• Zamir was the consensus candidate of the prime minister and defence minister (having in the past served as Netanyahu’s military secretary).  
• Zamir will be the first chief of staff in 50 years who began his military service in the Armoured Corps.
• There are several substantial issues on Zamir’s agenda:
  • The operational challenges across all seven fronts that Israel has faced over the last 15 months.
  • Structural issues including manpower, and the potential draft law for ultra-Orthodox men.
  • Overseeing the rehabilitation of the IDF’s reputation in relation to the Israeli public.
• His appointment is viewed as return to first principles – against the overreliance on technology – and a balance between quality and quantity. For example, Zamir previously objected to cuts that were made to the number of tanks in IDF use. 
• Zamir also believed that the IDF’s overreliance on the air force was incorrect and was in favour of the establishment of a missile corps. He has also emphasised the needs for the IDF to improve its ground manoeuvring capabilities. 

Looking ahead: Next week Southern Command Commander Yaron Finkelman will be replaced by Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor

• The new IDF command is expected to build a new multi-year strategy, which is expected to begin in the second half of 2025.

Hostages: Families of the hostages and their supporters are marking 500 days since their kidnapping, while 73 hostages remain in Hamas captivity in Gaza.      

• Demonstrations are anticipated across the country. In Jerusalem there will be a protest march from the prime minister’s home to the Knesset.
• The Hostages and Missing Families Forum announced a ‘day’ of fasting (500 minutes), while noting that “this is nothing compared to the suffering of those still there. It is a day of solidarity that would strengthen the hostages and echo the cry of those who are not heard. There is no more time. Action is needed to return all of them immediately.”
• Saturday saw the release of another three hostages – Sasha Trufanov, Sagi Dekel-Chen, and Iair Horn. This leaves 73 hostages in Gaza, six of whom are due to be released as part of the first stage of the deal along with eight bodies. Of the then remaining 59 it is thought around half are still alive.
• At a press conference last night Yelena Trufanov, the mother of Sasha said that her son had been shot in both legs on October 7th, adding “it’s a miracle that he is standing and walking. I feel that I have been given back my life, my soul, my heart. Sasha came back alive and well and that is a great joy and relief.”
• Sagi Dekel-Chen commented, “It’s nice to say 498 days, but we were there for over 43 million seconds of hell. We don’t count days, we don’t count minutes. We count seconds in this hell.”
• In return for those hostages, Israel once more released over 300 Palestinian prisoners, 33 of whom were serving life sentences. In this round, most were from Fatah rather than Hamas, which allowed Hamas to magnanimously claim to be working on behalf of all the terror factions. Among the prominent terrorists – active during the Second Intifada – released this weekend are:
  • Ahmed Barghouti (Fatah), serving 13 life sentences, murdered 12 Israelis.
  • Muhammad Matzlah (Fatah), serving nine life sentences, was involved in the lynching of two IDF reservists.
  • Shadi Abu Shahdam (Fatah), serving six life sentences, murdered six civilians, and wounding of over 100.
  • Nael Abid, (Hamas), serving four life sentences, involved in the murder of seven civilians, and wounding of 60.

Diplomacy: On Sunday night the Prime Minister’s Office announced that it was sending a negotiations team to Cairo (today), “in order to discuss the continued implementation of the first stage of the deal.”

• One of the unresolved issues of the first stage is the entrance of mobile caravan homes from Egypt into Gaza. Israel may be looking to leverage their entry in order to speed up the release of the remaining six live hostages, who are due for release in the first stage.
• The security cabinet is expected to convene later today to establish the guidelines for the negotiators to discuss the second stage of the deal.
• US envoy Witkoff told Fox News on Sunday that he was certain that the second stage of the agreement would be carried out. Witkoff said that stage was more “intricate and complicated” than the first, since it would entail an end to the war and Hamas “being gone from Gaza.”
• Another issue being considered is the extension of the first stage. This coincides with the sensitive month of Ramadan due to begin at the end of next week. The idea is that such an extension would see the release of more hostages in exchange for more Palestinian security prisoners without either side needing to make the more difficult concessions as part two of the deal.

Israel – US coordination: On Sunday Israeli leaders hosted the new US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.  

• In a three hour meeting between Rubio and PM Netanyahu, they discussed the Iranian threat, the next stages of the ceasefire in Lebanon, the post Assad regime in Syria, Trump’s plan for post war Gaza and the hostages.
• Rubio also met with President Herzog, Foreign Minister Saar, and Leader of the Opposition Lapid.  
• These meetings are the latest example of the close ties between the new US administration and the Israeli government.   
• In a joint press conference Netanyahu took the opportunity to restate, “President Trump and I are working in full cooperation and coordination between us. We have a common strategy and we can’t always share in details this strategy with the public, including when the gates of hell will be opened, as they surely will if all our hostages are not released, until the last one of them.”
• Rubio said, “The president has been very clear: Hamas cannot continue as a military or government force. And frankly, as long as it stands as a force that can govern or a force that can administer or a force that can threaten by use of violence, peace becomes impossible. They must be eliminated. It must be eradicated.”
• Rubio also related to the Iranian threat saying, “Iran is the single greatest source of instability in the region. Behind every terrorist group, behind every act of violence, behind every destabilising activity, behind everything that threatens peace and stability for the millions of people who call this region home, is Iran. And by Iran, I mean the ayatollahs. By Iran, I mean its regime, a regime who by the way, its people don’t support. The people of Iran are victims of that regime.”  
• Rubio added, “If there were more Israelis in the Middle East, more countries like that, the world would be a safer and a better place. And this is what we hope for the region and for our planet. A nation that has always sought peace but will not allow itself to be intimidated or destroyed by its enemies. And on that front, you can always count on us.”
• Also this weekend, Israel received delivery of a shipment of heavy bombs. Despite their hold up, according to the Ministry of Defence, “over 76,000 tonnes of military equipment have arrived in Israel via 678 airlifts and 129 sea shipments. This represents the largest air and sea bridge in Israel’s history.”

Looking ahead: Once the security cabinet has discussed the second phase, senior negotiators are expected to meet later this week in Qatar.

• Jordan and Egypt are preparing to present an alternative to President Trump’s plan to remove the residents of Gaza to other countries in the region.