🛡️ ISRAEL AND GREECE SIGN €3 BILLION AIR-DEFENSE AGREEMENT: Israel will build Greece a comprehensive multi-layered air-defense architecture under what the Israeli Defense Ministry described as the largest defense export agreement in the history of bilateral relations and one of Israel’s largest ever.
The “Achilles Shield” program will integrate Rafael’s David’s Sling and SPYDER, IAI’s BARAK MX, ELTA MMR radars and a Rafael-led national command-and-control system against ballistic missiles, aerial threats and hostile UAVs. Defense Ministry Director General Amir Baram and Greek procurement chief Ioannis Bouras signed the agreement in Tel Aviv.
According to additional reporting, full operational capability is targeted within 35 months, with more than 25% Greek industrial participation and access to source code. A separate €26 million agreement covers Rafael’s DRONE DOME systems for strategic sites, while the broader arrangement includes technology transfer and expanded defense-industrial cooperation. Netanyahu said the agreement “reflects Israel’s strength and the strengthening of regional alliances.”
🎖️ CENTRAL COMMAND AND SENIOR IDF APPOINTMENTS ADVANCE: Defense Minister Israel Katz approved IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir’s recommendation to appoint Maj. Gen. Dado Bar Kalifa as the next commander of Central Command following the Katz-Blut controversy. Bar Kalifa, currently head of the Personnel Directorate and a former commander of the 36th Division during the Gaza war, is expected to take the post in 2027, “subject to an operational situation assessment.”
Zamir also announced a wider senior-officer reshuffle involving three new brigadier generals, 11 new colonels, additional transfers and officers being sent to studies. Appointments awaiting Katz’s approval include commanders in Military Intelligence, the Givati, Nahal and Paratroopers brigades, the Air Force and Navy.
Col. Efrat Kaykov is set to become the first woman to command the standing army’s 282nd Artillery Regiment. She currently commands the 213th Reserve Artillery Regiment and was previously the first woman to command an Artillery Corps battalion.
⚖️ GIVATI SOLDIERS JAILED OVER FEMALE-PARAMEDIC MISSION REFUSAL: Religious soldiers from the Rotem Battalion refused an urgent Gaza mission that required traveling in a Namer armored personnel carrier with a female paramedic. The brigade rabbi permitted the mission because of its operational importance, while the soldiers cited outside rabbinic guidance and their understanding of the IDF’s Joint Service Order. The mission was ultimately canceled.
A subsequent IDF account said 16 soldiers were sentenced: five leaders received 10 days in jail and 11 others received five days. Two of the five will also face an evaluation committee before returning to combat duty. The IDF says the Joint Service Order generally provides religious soldiers with gender-segregated operational service except in exceptional circumstances.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich backed the soldiers, saying they had sought to preserve their religious values while following the IDF’s Proper Integration regulations and had support from Hesder Yeshiva Association rabbis and administrators. He said he would demand answers from the military.
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