IDF Chief of Staff Hertzi Halevi on Thursday decided to freeze the establishment of a committee of inquiry to investigate the failures of October 7, 2023, following the criticism leveled at him by members of the cabinet (Right-Wing Ministers Bash Gen. Halevi for Appointing ‘Mr. Expulsion’ Shaul Mofaz to Investigate 10/7).
When the Chief of Staff told the cabinet he was planning to appoint the defense minister during the 2005 expulsion of Jews from Gaza, Shaul Mofaz, to head the committee, Ministers Itamar Ben Gvir, Bezalel Smotrich, David Amsalem, and Miri Regev were irate and attacked the chief of staff for essentially looking to investigate his own colossal failure that led to the death of thousands of Israelis. According to reports, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant tried to silence the impolite ministers, and the senior security officials at the meeting eventually fled the room.
Halevi was also planning to include in the committee the former chief of military intelligence during the expulsion, Aharon Ze’evi-Farkash––who was an active leader of the push to stop serving in the reserves in protest of the judicial reform, and Shlomo “Sami” Turgeman, who was commander of the southern command from 2013 to 2015, the years when then-IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz invented the latest version of the conceptzia, arguing that after the beatings Hamas had taken in the 2014 Gaza war, the terrorist organization was deterred and should be plied with cash and jobs.
A group of bereaved parents of children who were killed in the Hamas murderous attack, addressed a strong letter to the Chief of Staff, demanding that the senior army officers concentrate on winning victory over Hamas and not on “investigating themselves.”
At the rowdy meeting, Halevi clarified that this was an operational investigation with implications for the ongoing fighting. Netanyahu replied: “Sometimes you have to listen to the ministers.”
At least the PM remembers that Israel is a country with an army and not an army with a country.
