Israel's soon to be IDF Chief Eyal Zamir says 2025 will continue to be a year of conflict

The Director General of the Ministry of Defense and the soon-to-be IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir spoke at a conference held by the ministry, stressing, “The [military] campaign is not over.” 

In his first speech since being selected to replace IDF Chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi in March, Zamir spoke about the military and security challenges facing Israel, namely, the multi-front war against local enemies, as well as the Iranian threat. 

“The campaign is not over and the challenges are still ahead of us,” Zamir told the conference. “The year 2025 will continue to be a year of fighting. The Ministry of Defense must continue to build up the force and support the needs of the IDF and the national security missions.” 

Speaking of his tenure in the Ministry of Defense, Zamir said, “The Ministry of Defense met its ultimate goal: providing a continuous and multidisciplinary response to the war. We defined two central efforts: the armaments effort and the rehabilitation effort.” 

As part of the rehabilitation of the military, Zamir identified the need for Israel to produce its own weapons. 

“When I took office, even before the outbreak of the war, we defined a central mission – to expand the reliance on the production of 'Blue and White'. We are an island country and we have no other choice,” Zamir noted. “The war proved that we should rely only on ourselves. We were all raised on the phrase ‘The State of Israel will defend itself on its own.’” 

After the U.S. and several European countries began to delay weapons shipments to Israel, or impose bans on weapons sales to the Jewish state, Israel began to increase the production of munitions in the country. Zamir said that will continue and increase in the future. 

“Now I am also telling you that the State of Israel will produce weapons for itself on its own, in the face of any threat and every scenario,” the director general claimed. “Throughout the war, we renewed production lines that were closed, expanded existing production lines, and established new production capabilities. Reducing dependence on the world is good for security, the economy, and industry. It will also prove itself in defense exports.” 

Speaking of the multi-front conflict, Zamir continued, “We are in a global arms race - a technological race. There is no mercy in our neighborhood. Our neighbors, from Iran to Gaza, from Yemen to Beirut and Damascus, are wrong about us. The people of Israel and the IDF are strong. In moments of testing, a warrior is revealed here. We need to salute the IDF, the IDF fighters, and its commanders. They saved the State of Israel. The Ministry of Defense gave the IDF the tools, the support and the security network to meet the mission.” 

The soon-to-be IDF chief praised the military’s performance during the Gaza War and in Lebanon. 

“In the war, the IDF rose to its feet from a bottomless pit - the enemies in all arenas were defeated and their leaders were buried under the rubble, but the campaign is not over and the challenges are still ahead of us. We must remember the heavy price we paid in dead and wounded.” 

Zamir also referred to his days in the Ministry of Defense, describing his term there as successful. 

“In the coming days, I will end my position as Director General of the Ministry of Defense. I feel that I am leaving a strong, leading, and powerful ministry that is focused on its overarching mission, which I defined on the second day of the war – to give the IDF and the defense establishment some breathing space,” Zamir stated.

“I would like to thank Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz for their vote of confidence in my selection as the 24th Chief of Staff of the IDF. We will prove to our enemies that they face a powerful, determined and victorious fist, as it is written in the book of Psalms: ‘I will pursue my enemies and catch them, and I will not return until they are destroyed.’”