After the uproar in the political system following Chief of Staff Kochavi's conversation with Prime Minister-designate Netanyahu - former senior officers who spoke to "Israel Today" sharply criticize the intention to extend the cooling-off period for Chiefs of Staff and generals.
In the last day, the designated ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir called for the cooling off period to be extended in order to prevent political involvement of officers during their term of office.
Reminder: Since 2007, the cooling-off period for senior security officials has been increased from only six months to three years from the day they finished their term until the elections or until the appointment to the position of minister.
In addition, it was determined that if the term of the Knesset expires during the cooling-off period, the senior members will be allowed to run for the next Knesset even if three years have not passed.
Amos Gilad
"Dismantling the army", photo: Dodo Greenspan
"What is happening today is the fragmentation of the army, the destruction of Ben-Gurion's action to unify all the fighting forces in the country under one command," says Major General (res.) Amos Gilad, who previously served as the coordinator of government operations in the territories and as head of the security-political division at the Ministry of Defense, "Ben Gurion abolished the Palmach, the Etzel and the Lahi and made one army - and now they are destroying it.
For example, in the YUS the army has several legs of activity and they are also recognized by the world. But now suddenly the civil administration in the YUS will be independent and not subordinate to the army and the same is true in the field of the chief military officer, suddenly the army will receive orders from outside the army.
"These are the interesting things - the transformation of the Israeli army into militias, which is the destruction of the IDF.
On this, the Chief of Staff fulfilled his duty as Chief of the General Staff and spoke with the designated Prime Minister. He did not speak to Netanyahu as a private person, as Aviv Kochavi, but spoke as a representative of the General Staff and did his job. This is the important issue. We need to talk about this now and not during a cooling off period A cooling-off period is a political matter and as long as it is not brought to the Knesset for discussion and decision, I don't think it is an interesting issue that should be dealt with at all."
Amiram Levin.
The initiative is mainly attributed to the politicians, photo: Yossi Zeliger
General (Ret.) Amiram Levin, former commander of the Northern Command, came out against every idea of the cooling period and sees it as a political move that teaches about the honesty of politicians.
"Let them go and check if the Chief of Staff or another senior officer in the army has ever compromised his position because of political considerations.
They won't find anything like that at all.
The officers are honest people, who do not introduce any extraneous considerations into their activities.
If there are those who introduce foreign considerations, who act from corrupt motives, it is the politicians themselves who tried to prevent honest people like Gadi Eisenkot, for example, from entering politics."
Smotrich is right!
After the parade of the Chiefs of Staff to politics, the cooling-off period for the Chief of Staff should be extended, with the aim of maintaining the IDF - the People's Army and avoiding politicization of the IDF.
— Itamar Ben Gabir (@itamarbengvir) December 27, 2022
"More than the cooling period teaches something about the real need to keep officials away from politics, it teaches about the politicians' fear of honest figures who will enter the system. They try to stop worthy people and hope that they will get fed up or that they will stop along the way for all kinds of reasons," clarifies Levin, who himself ran for the presidency in the past the "Avoda" party.
According to Acting Brigadier General Zvika Chaimovitz, former commander of the Air Defense Forces and a member of the security movement, the current cooling-off period is good and the preoccupation with the issue by right-wing politicians only harms the consensus around the IDF, and will cause controversy even on the left where there should be no such controversy.
"In my opinion, we should be careful and keep the IDF out of any political controversy and out of any political occupation.
Therefore, in my opinion, politicians on the right should not drag the army into the system at the moment because of all kinds of considerations of their own, this will also lead politicians on the left to enter this arena and the consensus around the IDF will be damaged, which is very dangerous. In essence, a cooling off period is a reality that depends mainly on the eyes of the observer and his location In relation to this issue. In any case, the current cooling-off period is good and sufficient and there is no point in extending it."
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