Brigadier General Shai Yaniv was appointed president of the Israel Defense Forces Court of Appeals on Wednesday by the committee to select military judges.

Yaniv, the court's vice president, will replace the current president, Major General Yishai Bar, who apparently is considering retirement from active duty.

While in the past, the president of the Court of Appeals was a Major General, Yaniv will begin his tenure at his current rank of Brigadier General, and may be promoted in the future.

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Bar, who is nearing the end of his five-year tenure as court President, will announce his future plans shortly.

It appears that the only development that could keep Bar from retiring is if IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi were to offer him the positions of GOC Southern or Central Command, but it seems unlikely that Ashkenazi will do so.

The chief of staff did offer Bar to be head of the IDF Manpower Branch, but Bar said he was uninterested in this position.

Bar spent most of his military service as a combat commander of reserve units. He is a highly regarded judge whose name has been mentioned as a possible future candidate for the Supreme Court.

Ashkenazi is expected to appoint the successor of GOC Central Command Yair Naveh soon after Independence Day next week.