Ben Gabir attacks the decision of the cabinet/system Walla!
The IDF strongly opposes National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gabir's proposal to establish a National Guard, which should be approved by the government soon, and warn that it may harm its ability to fulfill its tasks during the war. This is according to the position of Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, which was transferred to the Ministry of National Security in recent days.
The IDF's opposition joins Defense Minister Yoav Galant's resolute opposition to Ben Gvir's National Guard, who demands that additional professional discussions be held before the decision is approved by the government.
Ben Gvir is pushing to bring to the government's approval in the near future the decision-makers' proposal to establish the National Guard, one of his flagship projects in the Ministry of Defense Leumi, after the completion of the work of an inter-ministerial committee established last year headed by the former Director General of the Ministry of National Security, Shlomo Ben Eliyahu.
Contrary to his original plans, the National Guard will not be subordinate to the Minister but to the Commissioner of Police, but its establishment still includes changes in the security system, including an increase in the manpower assigned to the National Guard from the IDF - on duty and in reserve.
Pushing to get his plan approved in the near future.
Ben Gvir/Flash 90, Yonatan Zindel
In a letter sent by the Chief of Staff of the Minister of Defense, Shahar Katz, to the Chief of Staff of the Minister of National Security Hanmal Dorfman and received by Walla!, the defense establishment's objections to Ben Gabir's proposal, which includes, in addition to the allocation of soldiers from the IDF to the National Guard, also the granting of reservist recruitment powers, are detailed to the Minister of National Security as well as the transfer of the Home Front Command from the IDF to the Ministry of National Security.
Gallant opposed the move all along, but claims that the proposal of the decision-makers in its current form also contradicts the agreements reached by the Ben Eliyahu Committee, as well as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's instructions regarding the settlement of disputes on the issue.
The letter was also accompanied by the position of the Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi, who warns that Ben Gvir's proposal would deprive the IDF of a force order equivalent to an infantry brigade - and harm the IDF's ability to fulfill its missions while it is preparing for a campaign in the north and a multi-arena campaign.
Also, Halevi demands that any decision regarding the SDAK issue be made with the consent of the IDF, when it is in war mode and preparing for a new security reality.
Gallant claims that Ben Gabir's decision-makers' proposal includes many issues that were not discussed in the Ben Eliyahu Committee, such as the status of the Home Front Command and the reinforcement of the reserve SDF in the MGB/National Guard and more.
"For the avoidance of doubt, let it be clarified that even on the merits of the matter we are opposed to a proposal that cannot be implemented in light of the needs of the IDF in terms of regular personnel and the reserve system which, as mentioned above, only increased following the war," the letter reads. In the National Guard, you must do so from your own sources."
More in Walla!
Increasing regular forces and personnel quality: the controversies that threaten the establishment of the National Guard
To the full article
Warns of harming the IDF. Halevi and Galant/Ministry of Defense, Nicole Leskavi
According to Gallant, the Ben Eliyahu committee accepted his position "that the authority to recruit the reserves be concentrated by the minister of defense, the full and broad picture, and accordingly the issue was not included in the committee's recommendations."
It was also written that as part of the committee's deliberations, opposition was also expressed to the request to increase the number of conscript soldiers assigned to the National Guard, on the basis of which the National Guard will be established, "and this in light of the implications for the structure of the IDF. This opposition is gaining renewed force these days in light of the growing needs in the IDF to increase the frameworks."
Regarding the intention to transfer the Home Front Command, it is stated that "the consistent position of the IDF security establishment is that the Home Front Command is an inseparable part of the IDF and there is no intention to change its status or transfer it to another responsible body."
Ben Gabir's decision-makers' proposal also includes the establishment of another inter-ministerial team, led by the director general of the Prime Minister's Office, which will discuss, among other things, the transfer of the frontline command structure to the Ministry of National Security and the transfer of the authority to recruit National Guard reserves from the Minister of Defense to the Minister of National Security.
This, despite the fact that Netanyahu had already ordered in Sif December to establish a team led by the National Assembly to discuss the issue in light of the IDF's and the Defense Minister's resolute opposition to the proposed changes, and even more so during a war.
More on the same topic:
Itamar Ben Gabir
Hertzi Halevi
Yoav Galant