In two weeks' time, the President of the Israel Democracy Institute, Yohanan Plesner, will present the annual report on public trust in government institutions to President Yitzhak Herzog. The report is expected to reflect a growing problem of trust in all authorities, In the IDF, deepening.
In last year's report (which reflected the 2020 data), public confidence in the IDF fell sharply, from 90 percent to 81 percent, a decrease of 10 percent.
This is a sharp decline that was unparalleled in the past, even in times of crisis, and the IDF then claimed that this was a point event, a statistical deviation that shows nothing.
However, the data that will be published at the beginning of next month (and reflect the 2021 data) show that the crisis is much deeper.
According to the latest data, the public's trust in the IDF has not recovered in the past year, which means that this is a root problem. ;
In the latest survey conducted last month, there has already been a renewed decline in the data.
Worrying erosion
Although the IDF still has a higher level of trust than any other governmental institution, this is a little wisdom: our girls and boys serve in it, who protect us.
Warriors in training (archive photo, the photographers have nothing to do with the news), Photo: IDF Spokesman
Some of the reasons for this may be external (from the decline in public confidence in all democracies in the world to the proliferation of election campaigns and the lack of a state budget for more than two years, and of course the corona crisis), but most of them stem from the IDF. From the public eye.
Some of them get prominence on social media, but for failed and disgraceful treatment by the military.
Starting with the food problems at almost all IDF bases, through the recurring problems with transportation to and from the bases, and ending with payroll issues.
Although at the beginning of next year the salary of conscripts is expected to rise by 50 percent, but no matter how you look at it, the top military has chosen to take care of itself and its pensions first, and only then to take care of the IDF.
Former Knesset member Eitan Kabel has crossed the age of 60, but continues to make a reserve in the paratroopers.
He is currently in operational employment in Gush Etzion, and said yesterday that his company members were astonished by the conditions: the level of food, housing, showers.
"This is unlikely to be the case in 2021," he concluded.
Not everything turned around
The IDF leadership tells itself stories that everything has turned around. That these are marginal claims, which do not attest to the rule. This is probably the situation from the champions' point of view: when they arrive at the base, everything is polished, Champions the simple act of lowering the ranks, entering a queue for food or a shower with reservists without knowing who he is?
The last to do so was Udi Adam, when he was the head of the ITL. More than a decade and a half have passed since then, and the rift between the senior officer and the soldiers in the field is only deepening. Last Friday, the chief of staff, Aviv Kochavi, convened The IDF Central. This is a beautiful project, in which civilian mentors were attached to field officers at the level of brigade commanders in order to improve their functioning.
Passwords and the price of silence
For four hours the mentors heard how bad the situation was before the stellar period, and how good the situation is today.
The keynote speaker at the conference was his associate, the head of the Department of Behavioral Sciences, Col. Hadas Minka - whose main role is to build public trust in the IDF.
How do her remarks at the conference fit in with the data from the Israel Democracy Institute?
To the stars of the solutions.
Chief of Staff Kochavi, Photo: Yossi Zeliger
In recognition of Minka's success, Kochavi recently decided to award her the rank of extraordinary and controversial personal brigadier general, and not only her: another associate of his, former IDF spokesman Hedi Zilberman, whose main role was to build public trust in the army, first and foremost And was appointed IDF attaché in Washington.
This conference was held under the slogan "The Winning Commander".
It's a beautiful slogan, with not much behind it.
The IDF has not won any confrontations for many years, and the public does not buy the efforts of its senior officials to claim that The Guardian of the Walls was a dizzying success. Possible subject;
Just this week, Golani soldiers were attacked by settlers near the illegal yeshiva in Chumash, and the chief of staff remained silent.
When former chief of staff Gadi Izenkot did not blink at the Elor Azaria affair, the state was in turmoil - but public confidence in the army remained high. Now the situation is different, and a correction is needed; And listen to the soldiers and the public.If they say there's a problem - and that's what they're saying for the second year in a row - then it's time to address it, and right away.
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