Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday afternoon attended a surprise inspection of at the IDF Syrkin Base, an emergency supply depot outside Perah Tikva. He conducted an inspection the quality of the equipment on base, accompanied by IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi, and GOC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Nadav Padan.
The defense establishment comptroller, Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Eitan Dahan, began his inspection of the emergency supply depot at 06:00 Wednesday. The surprise inspection was designed to evaluate both the readiness of the unit to carry out its wartime mission and its ability to transition quickly from routine to emergency.
In keeping with the procedure for surprise inspections, the comptroller’s personnel came to the base on short notice in order to carry out a comprehensive inspection of the depots.
At the end of the tour, the PM-DM was presented with the findings and conclusion of the inspection, which the defense establishment comptroller had begun in the early morning. According to a press release from the Prime Minister’s office, Netanyahu plans to continue to hold inspections of IDF bases in the coming weeks, as he is studying the recommendations of Major General (res.) Yitzhak Brick’s report on serious failures in the army.
Last summer, Brick, the commissioner for soldiers’ complaints, Major General (res.) who was concluding ten years at his job, harshly criticized the army’s conduct, stating that the IDF is in a serious crisis and is not prepared to deal with the challenges it faces.
Brick’s penetrating statements led him immediately to a frontal confrontation with the IDF command echelon. Besides claims that his remarks were baseless and inaccurate, some also argued that Brick had deviated from his authority and responsibilities. Brick’s supporters, on the other hand, suggested that the panic of then chief of staff Gadi Eizenkot and his top brass only indicate how afraid they are. They also said that what was presented in Brick’s report was just the tip of the iceberg.
Netanyahu said during the tour that he wanted to gain an impression of “first of all, the logistical, physical and mechanical readiness,” and concluded: “I am very impressed. I will receive greater details but from what I have managed to see the command and equipment are ready, and stocks are full; this is the first thing that we are checking.”