Defense Minister Israel Katz will not approve the promotion of two IDF Southern Command officers until their role in the failed pogrom carried out by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas on October 7, 2023 in southern Israel ‘Israel will not have been investigated, his office said on Sunday.
On Friday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzl Halevi announced a new round of senior military appointments, including eleven new brigadier generals and four new colonels, as well as six brigadier generals and 19 colonels who access new positions at the same rank.
In his statement, Katz said he had approved the list of appointments, with the exception of two officers from the Southern Command: Colonel Ephraim Avni, who was chief of operations at the Southern Command, and Colonel Almog Dadon, head of the Military Engineer Corps at the Southern Command.
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Katz said their promotion would be suspended until their “connection to the events of October 7 and their performance during the war were thoroughly examined.”
Avni was named head of the paratrooper brigade, and Dadon was named head of the elite Yahalom Military Engineering Corps unit.
The ministry also clarified that, as part of the examination of the matter, Katz intends to meet with the families of the soldiers guarding the Nahal Oz outpost, “in order to allow them to express their position on the issue.
The father of Corporal Noa Marciano, killed by Hamas in Gaza in November 2023, after being taken hostage on October 7, spoke out against the promotion of Brigadier General Eliad Moatti, commander of the Border Defense Corps, who oversees the Intelligence Gathering Corps. Moatti was appointed commander of the Tzeelim training base.
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