Four days before his entry into the office of the 23rd Chief of Staff of the IDF, tomorrow (Thursday) Major General Herzi Halevi will meet with the Minister of Finance and the Minister in the Ministry of Defense, Bezalel Smotrich.
First publication: The Chief of Staff-designate, Major General Harzi Halevi, will meet tomorrow (Thursday) with the Minister of Finance and the Minister in the Ministry of Defense, Bezalel Smotrich. The meeting will take place with the approval of Defense Minister Galant, and against the background of the coalition agreements that are very disturbing to the IDF.
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This will be the first time that the new Chief of Staff will have to work and maneuver between two ministers in the Ministry of Defense, both of whom are also new.
Halevi's meeting with Smotrich will take place against the background of the coalition agreements, in which Smotrich demanded to take control of the Civil Administration, and subordinate to him the coordination of government operations in the territories.
As usual, the meeting between Halevi and Smotrich takes place with the approval of Defense Minister Yoav Galant.
Fear in the IDF
Officially, Halevi will meet with Smotrich as Minister of Finance and will not discuss with him the other troubling issues.
But it is not impossible that these issues will come up in the end.
The meeting is expected to take place against the backdrop of serious concerns in the IDF regarding the desire of the new coalition to make fundamental changes in the army. The outgoing Chief of Staff, Lt. Col. Aviv Kochavi, assisted General Halevy when, shortly before the end of his term, he chose to deal with the hot political potato. With his help, Halevy called Netanyahu Even before the government was sworn in, he expressed his concerns about the coalition's plans.
Kochvi asked to allow the army to voice its professional opinion before any changes, and clarified that it is not possible for the Chief of Staff to work with another minister who is not the defense minister.
The IDF is very disturbed by the attempt to change the subordination of the Civil Administration, by the desire to transfer the MGB units to Itamar Ben Gabir in the "Ministry of National Security" and by the plan to transfer the Chief Military Rabbi from the responsibility of the Chief of Staff to the responsibility of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.
Halevi needed the public support of outgoing Chief of Staff Kochavi, and it seems that the fact that he will meet with Minister Smotrich today indicates his desire to enter the position smoothly while lowering the level of the flames and creating a common language with Smotrich.
Changes on many fronts
Halevi will also need Smotrich's support as finance minister, and will probably be interested in ending the long-standing skirmish between the security establishment and the Ministry of Finance, and the trending leaks coming from the Ministry of Finance regarding the "fat" pensions of the permanent personnel, a fact that does not help the IDF to preserve Its quality personnel.
The IDF is facing an extremely acute personnel crisis, and on the eve of the change of government there was already a draft of a new permanent model and a new salary model for the permanent personnel, coordinated by the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Finance, but this was shelved due to the change of government that has taken place since then.
According to Smotrich's demands in the coalition negotiations, the minister on his behalf will be granted control over the coordination mechanism of the government's actions in the territories, the civil administration and the appointment of the legal advisors who will deal with what is happening in the territories. Ben Gabir, for his part, demanded direct control over the MGB.
The IDF is very afraid that these two moves will greatly weaken the functioning of the IDF in the territories.
The army is very upset that external parties with a clear political inclination will be added to the military hierarchy, who have declared that they will do everything they can in order to expand the settlements and train the outposts.
The IDF spokesman said in response: "The designated Chief of Staff will meet with the Minister of Finance as part of the process of entering the position.
The meeting is held in accordance with the instructions of the Minister of Defense and in accordance with the procedures."
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