Brig. Gen. Moti Almoz has been appointed the new head of the Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson's Unit, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz announced on Monday. Defense Minister Moshe (Bogie) Ya'alon approved the appointment. Almoz will replace Brig. Gen. Yoav (Poli) Mordechai, who has served as the IDF spokesman since April 2011. It is expected that Mordechai will be promoted to the rank of major-general and be tapped to be coordinator of government activities in the territories, a role currently filled by Maj. Gen. Eitan Dangot. Almoz is currently head of the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria. He first enlisted in the IDF in 1985 and served in various roles in the Engineering Corps. He became the head of the Civil Administration in 2010, where he replaced his close friend Mordechai. Gantz's appointment of Almoz shows a preference for field soldiers who climbed the ranks in combat units, and not experts in media relations. Almoz has no real experience dealing with journalists, and has previously not concealed his disdain for the media. In 2011, Almoz sent a controversial letter to Civil Administration officers, telling them to crack down on illegal settler construction. The letter drew harsh responses from the settlers and their Knesset representatives. The letter, entitled "Summer Camp is Over," said that enforcement of the law on illegal construction in the West Bank was far from being equal, but Palestinian unauthorized construction was more strictly enforced. He called for creating "balance" by ceasing to enforce the law on illegal Palestinian construction. Brig. Gen. David Menachem, the current chief of staff of the Central Command, will replace Almoz as head of the Civil Administration. In addition, Col. Avner Paz-Tzuk, the current head of the IDF's Cyber Division, will be promoted to the rank of brigadier-general and become the new head of the Education and Youth Corps, replacing Brig. Gen. Eli Shermeister.
