Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich continued his campaign to try to block IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi from making additional rounds of military appointments.
He argued on Sunday that “the current IDF high command failed in a colossal way on October 7 and cannot design the future generation of the IDF or appoint the commanders who will fix things.”
Speaking to Channel 12, Smotrich added, “We support them absolutely to manage the war and to win. That, but nothing more.”
אדוני הרמטכ״ל, יש לך גיבוי מלא לניצחון. לא למחטף של מינויים.הדור החדש של המפקדים שלא היה שותף לקונספציה ולמחדל יוביל את השיקום והתיקון.
— בצלאל סמוטריץ' (@bezalelsm) March 17, 2024
Military sources, in talks with The Jerusalem Post, responded sarcastically to Smotrich’s comments, questioning how he or others dare attack Halevi while entrusting him with massive life and death decisions, decisions that led so far to military victory in Gaza City and Khan Yunis. How could they support him devising an invasion of Rafah, while simultaneously wishing to prevent him from making appointments that are completely unrelated to the Gaza front?
According to military sources, neither the round of appointments made a couple of weeks ago, nor an impending new round of appointments, will pertain to any officers at the rank of major-general – which makes up the IDF high command and the officers who run whole swaths of the army.
Major-generals run the Northern, Southern, and Central commands, the air force, the navy, and all of the logistics, strategy, planning, and human resources commands.
Halevi, who is expected to resign sometime after the military issues an interim report in June on the October 7 failures, is committed to letting his replacement reshape the major-general level.
Sources added that Halevi will not appoint any key officials in the Southern Command relating to the Gaza Division or to the Intelligence Command – the two commands considered most responsible for October 7.
Rather, the appointments are to areas where there has been no discernible failure, such as the West Bank/Central Command, where Halevi is mostly just accepting the recommendation of officers about which lieutenant colonel to promote to colonel, where no one would dispute that the best selections tend to come by promoting one of a group of officers, recommended by his commanders, who already knows the area.
To the extent that there are any appointments in the Intelligence Command, the military sources said they might be in specific areas, like non-operational artificial intelligence, such that whoever fills the role is working in a purely technical fashion, and not in an area that did or could impact invasions.
The one other exception in the Southern Command was that mid-level officers had to be replaced when they were killed in battle, but these were more emergency appointments to keep the battle running than they were appointments of choice about the IDF’s long-term future.
IDF sources added that without these rounds of appointments – which without the war, normally would have happened several months ago – dozens of top officers might quit, insulted by the idea that they have been passed over for promotion, when in fact many of them are due for it.
The IDF sources said the key would be making appointments that are necessary to avoid losing the IDF’s effectiveness in the near-term, while avoiding appointments in controversial commands or at higher levels which could restrict whoever succeeds Halevi, assuming he resigns.
Despite all of these justifications, Smotrich said many have lost faith in Halevi and the IDF high command and that there was no choice but to let them run the war, lest the counterattack on Hamas is delayed, but that it was wrong for Halevi to presume from that he still had a mandate to do anything beyond what was immediately necessary.
The finance minister added that “the next generation of commanders, who will not be partners to the conceptual framework of the failure, will lead the rehabilitation and the fixing” of the military.
Some of the Israeli public is also critical of Halevi
Likewise, few commentators have said that after quickly publicly taking responsibility for October 7, Halevi has gone nearly five months without making it clear when he would step down.
This very lack of clarity is what has disturbed some commentators, who argued that he is violating conflict of interest principles by creating the impression that he may hold onto power so that he can reshape the IDF when at the same time he is on the hot seat for the Hamas invasion.
Still, others have bristled at Halevi disciplining top field generals like Brig.-Gen. Barak Hiram and Brig.-Gen. Dan Goldfus for what are perceived as smaller infractions, when he, in principle, deserves to have been forced to resign months ago.
Members of Knesset respond to Smotrich's comments
Yesh Atid MK Mickey Levy responded to Smotrich's comments on a post on X.
אם לרמטכ״ל אין סמכות למנות מינויים תוך כדי המלחמה בעקבות ה7.10 גם לחבר קבינט המחדל סמוטריץ׳ אין סמכות להעביר כספים קואליציוניים או תקציב מדינה לטווח ארוך. הגמל לא רואה את הדבשת של עצמו.
— מיקי לוי - Mickey Levy (@MKMickeyLevy) March 17, 2024
"If the Chief of Staff does not have the authority to make appointments during the war following October 7, the defaulting cabinet member Smotrich also does not have the authority to transfer coalition funds or approve the long-term state budget. The camel does not see its own hump," he said in his post.
National Unity MK Chili Tropper also commented, "There is something impudent in the nature and manner in which Smotrich attacks the IDF regarding commander appointments. Smotrich talks about the need for trust towards the heads of the army and claims that trust has been lost.
Well, according to all the polls, the army actually enjoys the highest trust in Israeli society. Meanwhile, Smotrich and the Netanyahu government are suffering from a tremendous crisis of confidence from the Israeli public's point of view," said Tropper.
"The last ones who can preach something about failure and lack of trust are those who sat in the government on October 7. We have one IDF, and it must continue to march forward with the soldiers and commanders, who are all of us sons and brothers. Above all, it will continue with the backing of the entire people of Israel."