In a low-key ceremony at the headquarters of the Israeli military last week, Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi, who commanded the army during the calamitous Oct. 7 Hamas massacre and its aftermath, was replaced by Eyal Zamir.

In December, when the German government, led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, lost the confidence of the Bundestag, not only did it spark a general election, it also provoked the fear of a deepening international crisis on top of the domestic one.