Not wasting any time, Major-General Avi Zamir in the first days as head of the IDF Human Resources Branch changed the name back to IDF Personnel Branch, the name that existed prior to the tenure of Major-General Elazar Stern, who opted to rename it to human resources. Stern retired from the IDF a number of days ago.

Some of the officers assigned to the unit expressed surprise, stating that Zamir was Stern’s assistant and he did not express opposition to the name change during Stern’s tenure.

They added that even if Stern decided to make the change, he should not have done it during his first days in office, perhaps as a sign of respect to his predecessor.

Others believe it was just another sign of a standard IDF practice, in which officers seek to leave their imprint, a type of identification process.

What is significant however is when Stern changed the name, there was much more to it. Instead of the unit just dealing with issues of assignment and promotion of personnel, adjutancy issues, he expanded it to address all the needs of personnel; compulsory service, career personnel and even reservists. He addressed the leasing of vehicles, cellular telephones for officers, health benefits and more.

Zamir on the other hand has announced that he is moving back to the old days, addressing primarily the main issues that were traditionally assigned to the personnel branch, troop assignments and promotions.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)