The Outgoing Chief of Staff Aligned with Bizarre Government Decisions

The Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi announced his resignation and departure from his position and the army. There is a slight feeling of bitterness: here is an important and highly regarded national figure leaving his post and disappearing into the unknown. Was he a good Chief of Staff? Did he live up to expectations throughout his short tenure? Did he maintain control over the army he was entrusted with? Did he have a grip on the army’s combat forces? Was he aware of Netanyahu’s manipulations and those of his cabinet members regarding the General Staff and Israeli society?

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From my understanding, command begins at the top: supervision and control. Here arises the first stumbling block - a complete lack of control over what was happening in Judea and Samaria. The army there, starting with the commander of the Judea and Samaria Division and continuing with some of the brigade commanders, turned into loyal militias of the settlement movement, utterly betraying the army’s role to protect the local Palestinian population. The IDF forces in Judea and Samaria became collaborators with Jewish terror groups across the West Bank, complicit in abuse, in withholding water from shepherd communities, in preventing Palestinian farmers from reaching their olive groves, and in granting periodic legitimacy to pogroms in various Palestinian villages. Brigade commanders provided security for and participated in visits to Joseph’s Tomb, gravely disrupting Palestinian life in the area. Did the Chief of Staff know about these flagrant violations of the law by the forces under his command, or was he simply blind to them?

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After the horrific massacre of that day, did the Chief of Staff fail to notice Netanyahu’s cynical manipulation of the army and the entire Israeli public when he declared a war of vengeance - aimed at prolonging a conflict that would keep him in power as long as it persisted? Why did Halevi not exert the full weight of his position to secure the immediate return of all hostages, even at the high cost of releasing terrorists and avoiding war? Why align with the government’s bizarre decisions to flatten Gaza and kill tens of thousands of civilians, women and children? Why did he agree to have rabbis enter combat units under his command? Why did he consent to the clerical brainwashing of a religious war, a war of “redemption”, thus turning the army into a body committing war crimes and crimes against humanity? Why did he allow the army’s discipline to erode, leading to civilians entering combat zones and causing the loss of soldiers’ lives as a result? Why did he allow a cover-up - or an attempt to cover up - the investigation into the incident in which Ze’ev Ehrlich was killed, as well as the soldier Gur Kehati?

Indeed, after the shock of October 7th, the Chief of Staff and the army recovered, fought, and led Israel to significant military achievements. Still, many questions remain unanswered, and some of them may never be addressed. The call for a state commission of inquiry must be raised on every platform and in every forum. Benjamin Netanyahu must take responsibility and resign immediately, along with his entire criminal and incompetent government. And we - the liberal civil society, all members of the protest movements - must remain united in the demand for the return of all the hostages while also keeping our “eyes on the ball”. The regime coup is still underway, and our highest duty, alongside securing the hostages’ return, is to prevent Minister Levin and his associates from continuing to harm our State of Israel.