Herzi Halevi is the former IDF chief of staff, having served from 2023 when he replaced Aviv Kohavi, until March 2025, when he was replaced by Eyal Zamir.
Halevi's short tenure as chief of staff was due to the October 7 massacre, when Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel on October 7, 2023 and killed 1,200 people and taking over 200 others hostage. Due to the IDF's failure to prevent this attack from occurring, Halevi resigned from his position nearly two years later.
Defrin beat out Col. Beni Aharon, who had been a key tank brigade commander during the Gaza war, for the post.
Three IDF officials are uniquely responsible for the last-minute decisions they made once there was evidence of a potential imminent attack.
"Enemies near and far have sought to destroy us. They mistakenly believed that our spirit was weak and our ranks were fractured," he wrote.
The outgoing IDF chief of staff's wife explained that the bracelets were given to her by the families of fallen IDF soldiers she had visited during the Iron Swords War.
New IDF chief Eyal Zamir makes swift command changes merely hours after his swearing in.
Both Zamir and Halevi left notes between the stones of the Wall, a common Jewish tradition when visiting the site.
Zamir said that he will press for an "equal burden sharing" of service, wanting to increase the number of haredim serving in the IDF.
"A state inquiry is necessary, not to accuse, but to get to the root of the problems, and to make it possible to fix them,” Herzi Halevi said.
Basyuk made his request to incoming IDF Chief of Staff Maj.-Gen. (res.) Eyal Zamir
What will historians say about Halevi 50 years from now, and will another IDF chief cite him as an example?
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