Zamir Appoints Brig.-Gen. Effie Defrin as New Military Spox., Replacing Hagari

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir on Sunday night appointed Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin the next IDF chief spokesman to replace Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari.

Defrin has recently been a fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) in the US, but his most recent position in the IDF was as the head of International Cooperation.

In that position, the Jerusalem Post understands that Defrin helped run much of the IDF’s foreign relations with allied Western and Middle East countries, including some with which Israel does not have official diplomatic relations with.

Defrin had previously served as head of the Tevel Division in the IDF until 2024, and until 2019, he served as the IDF attache in India. Between 2014 and 2015, he served as deputy commander of Division 36.

For three years before that, he served as commander of Brigade 27, and the year previous, he served as the operations officer in Battalion 532 within Division 460.

Prior to that, Defrin was wounded in the 2006 Second Lebanon War and served as a tank battalion commander, one of the reasons he has long-standing ties to Zamir.

Defrin beat out Col. Beni Aharon, who had been a key tank brigade commander during the Gaza war, for the post.

On Friday, the IDF announced that Zamir would replace Hagari.

It was widely presumed that Hagari would be replaced, not only because most new IDF chiefs prefer to install a close ally in the spokesperson’s position, but also because Hagari had publicly clashed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the coalition over the probe into some Netanyahu staff members for allegedly mishandling classified information relating to Israeli hostages held by Hamas as well as regarding integrating haredim into the army.

But some observers were surprised at the speed at which Hagari was replaced, given that many Israelis saw him as the most stable face of the country during the current war.

Some reports said that Hagari had given Zamir an ultimatum of a promise for a promotion to a major general position or he would resign.

Hagari was the first IDF spokesperson to emerge from the navy, and served as a top aide to former IDF chiefs Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot.

He also was a commander at multiple levels of the elite Israeli navy seals unit, Shayetet 13, which meant that his identity was kept secret for most of his career.

Zamir replaced Herzi Halevi as IDF chief on Wednesday.

Hagari is not the first chief spokesman to run into anger from the coalition. His predecessor Brig. Gen. Ran Kohav was replaced by Halevi in January 2023, partially because elements of the Netanyahu government had turned their fire on him for sternly condemning an IDF soldier who illegally beat a left-wing activist in Hebron and some other political controversies.

Despite a court martial finding the soldier’s conduct to be clearly illegal, some politicians came to the soldier’s defense and blamed Kohav for the speed and intensity of the condemnation.

Originally published by the Jerusalem Post.