Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief-of-staff Herzi Halevi said he was stepping down on Tuesday in an announcement that was widely expected. “The IDF under my command failed in its mission to protect Israel’s citizens,” he said, referring to the Hamas-led attack on October 7th, 2023. “The responsibility for this terrible failure stays with me every day, every hour, and will remain with me for the rest of my life.”
In fact he jumped before he was pushed. Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu wanted him out of the way. Halevi has spoken out in favour of drafting members of the ultra-Orthodox community into the army even though such a move could spell the end of Netanyahu’s coalition, which includes two ultra-Orthodox parties.
His resignation also ties in with the right-wing narrative that it was the army and the intelligence community that was solely responsible for the October 7th disaster, not the political echelon.
Israel’s opposition urged Netanyahu to follow Halevi’s example. “Now let the prime minister and his entire disastrous government take responsibility and resign,” opposition leader Yair Lapid said.
But that will not happen. As well as not taking responsibility Netanyahu has stubbornly resisted calls to set up a state commission of inquiry to examine the Hamas attack, along with the events leading up to the greatest disaster in Israel’s history.
The politicians prefer to avoid awkward questions about what is termed “the preconception” – the view that Hamas was “contained” with suitcases of cash from Qatar entering Gaza every month and did not seek a conflict. The intelligence community and the top generals warned that the political chaos that preceded the war, as Netanyahu moved to undermine the judiciary, was perceived by Israel’s enemies as weakness and compromised Israel’s security. But the warnings were ignored.
The top generals have resigned but the right-wing politicians also want the departure of Ronen Bar, the head of the Israel security agency Shin Bet. Bar took responsibility immediately after the start of the Gaza war but is in no hurry to resign. He helped craft the complicated Gaza ceasefire and wants to see the process through.
The new IDF chief-of-staff to be chosen in the coming weeks will have a full plate: ensuring the ceasefires in Lebanon and Gaza hold; combating West Bank militant groups; removing the Houthi threat on Israeli shipping; ensuring the new leaders in Syria cannot pose a military threat; agreeing on a framework for ultra-Orthodox enlistment; rebuilding the army after 15 months of fighting; and, above all, dealing with the threat of a nuclear Iran.
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