It is not easy for a senior officer such as myself to say the following, but it is all to clear to me (and to others as well), that the time has come for the leaders of Israel’s present military campaign to take their leave, salute the flag and pass the torch on to others.
Ther are more than a few causes that have laid the ground for the gravest disaster in the history of Israel of October 7. Granted, when the time comes there will be much that will have to be investigated and many questions will have to be posed – to the commanders of many ranks in Israel’s military. But one rank must be addressed without delay, meaning those who captained the IDF over the past year. Anyone with even a basic understanding of military tactics and strategy can see that the attack perpetrated by Hamas stems from a resounding oversight in the military intelligence analysis, decision making and execution. This is a bona fide system failure, that has claimed many innocent lives, delivering a mortal blow to Israel’s citizens’ faith in the army’s ability to do its job and protect them.
Any commanding officer knows that when it comes down to the battlefield, there is no room whatsoever for politics, and the order of the day is to get the operational mission with which you are tasked completed successfully. This is the single imperative for a commander to uphold in the heat of battle. This principle governs the way you think and act and it is the yardstick according to which your performance will be measured – in the eyes of your commanders and your subordinates. Only then you look to the political echelon.
I do not wish to pursue questions on the IDF’s performance during and in the aftermath of the attack, but rather to direct the limelight at the following point: this failure – the gravest in Israel’s history – is first and foremost a shortcoming of the country’s military body, which should be on its guard, day and night, but had failed to do so – even when at dawn of the attack, the senior IDF command had begun to grasp that something is amiss. Yet, somehow, it did not deem fit to take any preventative – or at least precautionary – action, which would be the obvious thing to do in light of the fact that the area involved is of close proximity to the border with the enemy visibly positioned just hundreds of meters from the front doors of Israeli citizens, meaning that the forces there would have zero response time.
The outcome of this lapse of judgement is no more evident than in two images that are seared into the collective memory: the first – that of the border security soldiers being dragged out of their beds in their underwear and pajamas by Hamas terrorists, and the second of citizens – women, children, men, elderly, infirm – slaughtered in their homes, also by Hamas terrorists. No security standby or heightened alert – the IDF had failed colossally and its subordinates have failed to carry out the most sacred of tasks that rests on their shoulders. Indeed, it is hard to look into the eyes of those soldiers who were on duty on the border that fateful morning without knowing the imminent grave events about to hit them – them, the heads of security in the many communities along the border, and anyone else tasked with the defense of the civilians.
Even at the level of general military preparedness for a multi-front scenario, the army was not present where it ought to have been. Discussions with military personnel that participated in the events of that attack reveal the grim reality with which they were forced to contend – the reservists that were summoned to the north of Israel, tank crews that had to fend for themselves and find critical gear that the army failed to provide, citizens that ran to the fighting arenas and literally fought with their bare hands to save lives and many, many others. No commander can accept this state of affairs and surely not the highest commander of the army, who is charged with ensuring that his forces are prepared for such scenarios and with deploying said forces to respond immediately to attacks. Effectively – we had neither – no preparation and no deployment.
There are those who claim that the fact that the event did not escalate into an all-out ground assault on Israel on all fronts – including from within the country – is a miracle. But whoever was able eventually to make it to the arena and fight the terrorists did not do so as a result of orderly battle command on part of the Chief of Staff, or on part of any of the high command for that matter, but were reservists and military personnel who did not wait to receive a summons and forged ahead, risking their own lives, on their own volition, to save lives. One such individual told me “It was not the IDF that saved the people. It was us and our sense of duty. In fact, there were times when the army actually got in the way”. Talk to any reservist that was there that day and you will hear similar claims.
As mentioned, I have no desire to address the IDF’s offensive tactics once it stepped into the picture. Suffice it to say that the statement by the IDF spokesman, in which he claimed that Hamas is an idea, and as such cannot be destroyed, is a clear reflection of the current winds blowing through the IDF leadership. It seems that his words speak for themselves. When an officer – any senior officer – voices such a notion, there seems no point in having that officer remain in his post a moment longer, and the responsibility must be transferred to a suitable replacement – the sooner, the better.
It must be said in all honesty that these are all good people. I have personal acquaintance with them. They aspired to make things better, and have always tried – and are still trying – to bring about a different outcome – but this is not the point. At this stage, they should no longer stand at the helm, ethically and professionally. It is time they take their farewell salute and leave the job to a new military leadership, that has not been tainted by this historic failure.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the movement
