Opinion The subtext challenge of the new Chief of Staff | Israel Today

Major General Herzi Halevi

The way in which Halevi's appointment was decided - a coup made by Benny Gantz, who wanted to make a decision just before the government came in - did not cloud the impressive and exciting ceremony.

The political statements that were added to them from time to time were also reasonable and acceptable: Chief of Staff Halevi's statement that "we will maintain a moral and professional IDF, free from any consideration other than security", can be interpreted as political twice - both for attempts by civilian parties to interfere in education and training of the IDF, and towards political actors such as Smotrich who seek to make changes in the structure of the IDF.

Yoav Galant's statement that "the Chief of Staff is subordinate to the Minister of Defense and political pressures will stop with me", is also reasonable in the conventional political game, which always enters and will enter other events that are occasionally used as platforms for political statements.

Still, there is a saying that should be considered and not dismissed casually.

This is the so-called banal sentence of commentators and writers, according to which the new chief of staff "will have to deal with challenges from outside and inside". We all know what the challenges are from the outside: Iran, Hezbollah, the Palestinians - parties interested in destroying Israel, fighting Israel, etc. But what are the challenges from the inside?

It is certain that there are hostile, anti-Israel and violent anti-Zionist elements within Israel that must be fought.

If it is, for example, Israeli Arabs who are identified with the violent Palestinian struggle, it is appropriate to give them signs.

The Chief of Staff and the army need to know what they are dealing with, and dealing with citizens who support terrorism is not an easy thing. If we are referring to the Bedouin in the south, then this is a more complex issue, and the question is: Is it a fight against protectionism in the hands of the police, or a fight against the theft of weapons and iron from Bedouins?

When security and military commentators say "challenges from within", the average person thinks they mean security challenges, but security challenges are easy to mark and define, even if they are Israeli citizens in the mixed cities or East Jerusalem.

But none of the commentators would be willing to state that they attribute the challenges from within to these factors.

Also because it often conflicts with police activity, and also because this is not what is meant by "challenges from within".

Because it is clear to everyone that the challenges from within are Smotrich, who wants to make structural changes and transfer the civil administration to civilian hands;

Anyone with a functioning brain knows that any attempt by the political echelon to try and make changes to the out-of-date and obviously non-military code of ethics - will create worldwide riots;

that an attempt to bring order to the IDF spokesman, whose ailments we have only recently been exposed to, will draw Gewald from the land of the Gewaldim. The purpose of the "challenges from within" is to signal that any attempt by the political echelon in the current elected government to make any changes - is a threat no less than the Palestinians, otherwise not They would put him in the phrase "challenges from outside and inside".

If the General Staff does not know how to give signs of that challenge "from within" and say exactly who or what the challenge is, it is better not to put it shoulder to shoulder with challenges such as Iran and Hezbollah. According to the trust index of the Israel Democracy Institute published this week, there is a decrease in trust in all state institutions , but the IDF still tops the list as an institution that the public trusts.

If he continues to convey subtexts through his messengers or speakers that are used as a tool in the continuation of the struggle between him and the political echelon, it will certainly not contribute to public trust.

He has a bigger challenge, where he will actually need the help of the statesmen - here, for example, next week the verdict on the High Court of War should be passed. This is going to be a bit of a challenge from within. 

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