Lieutenant-General and chief of staff of the Israel Defence Forces, appointed for his toughness. He opposes a full occupation of Gaza, warning it would endanger the hostages and that the IDF may not have enough troops. He has called the "Yellow Line"—the boundary of the half of Gaza still occupied by Israel—a new border.
Mr Zamir has described settler attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank as "nationalist crime incidents" and called them "morally and ethically unacceptable". The IDF redeployed a battalion from the Lebanon border to try to stop them.
But I always fired into the nearest hill or, failing that, into blackness. I meant no harm; I just liked the explosions. And I was careful never to kill more than I could eat.