Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday promoted Brig.-Gen. Guy Markizeno, Israel Katz’s secretary, to become his military secretary.
The promotion came after Netanyahu moved his former military secretary, Roman Gofman, to head the Mossad on Tuesday.
Gofman’s appointment had been cleared by the High Court of Justice on Monday, and the IDF had submitted multiple candidates to Netanyahu to take up the post, but the prime minister had stalled deciding for a few days, IDF sources told The Jerusalem Post.
The military secretary is often the first official to receive reports on behalf of the prime minister and, along with the national security council chief, stays close to him most of the time, providing immediate advice in crisis situations.
Markizeno was not the IDF Chief of Staff, Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir’s top choice for the role, but his moving to that post could resolve another issue for Zamir.
Since December 2025, Zamir has wanted Brig. Gen. Tal Polites to take up the US defense attaché post, which has had no permanent occupant and has only had an acting chief since then.
Polites has served as deputy head of the navy and the commander of the IDF elite Navy SEAL unit, Shayetet 13.
Katz did not publicize anything specific he had against Polites, but had wanted his military secretary, Markizeno, to take the post.
Now that Markizeno has moved on, possibly Katz withdrew his veto of Polites, though IDF sources were unsure about the issue at press time.
Markizeno had also served as secretary to Yoav Gallant when he was the defense minister.
Prior to that, he served as commander of artillery unit 405, artillery brigade 209 and 215, as planning chief for the infantry command, and as chief of staff for the northern command.
However, Markizeno got caught up in disputes between Katz and Zamir, which left him with less support to fulfill other roles.
Source:
www.jpost.com
