In the video: statement of the commander of Division 98, Lt. Col. Dan Goldfuss 03.13.24/doc
Let's start with what was most jarring to the ear in the surprising speech of Brigadier General Dan Goldfuss: A man never asks his fellow man to be worthy of him.
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Perhaps the premise "the speaker is not a professional speaker" is due to Colonel Goldfuss and it is only a language error, but I admit that even as someone who loves and salutes the IDF soldiers who risk their lives to protect our lives, I began to itch in embarrassment at the senior officer's words.
Maybe my ear is too sensitive, but I couldn't help but think that this sentence betrays much more than bad phrasing.
We will soon try to delve a little deeper into it, but first of all, there is a belief that needs to be refuted: I was exposed to all of my colleagues who talked about a senior officer and fierce fighter who speaks to the leaders from the bottom of his heart.
And she is not - not because Brigadier General Goldfuss is not a senior officer (a fact) and God forbid - not because he is not a brave commander and fighter (this is what everyone who fought alongside him or under him testifies to), but because the whole purpose of this speech was to appeal to the public above the heads of the politicians.
I guess The commander of the busiest division in the IDF has an open door in the office of any political leader with whom he wants to talk, some of them are even happy to go down south to meet him.
If he thinks they are not worthy of commanders like him and the soldiers under his command, he can look them in the eye and say the things in a whisper that will resonate more than a thousand words spoken through the Kabal with Ada amplification system.
I want to say, Goldfuss did not address Netanyahu, Gantz, Eisenkot or Gallant, he addressed us, the citizens of Israel - and what he said is roughly this: the political leadership of the State of Israel does not deserve the sacrifice of the military personnel.
This is a statement that should resonate even if it were said by an ordinary soldier, certainly when it comes from the mouth of the most senior field commander in Gaza.
Undermining the source of his authority?
Here I admit that I began to move uneasily, and not because I think that the leaders of Israel deserve the sacrifice of the IDF soldiers. Hundreds of previous columns will testify that I do not even think that they deserve the taxes that I pay every month to maintain the corrupt system that sustains them. Paying taxes every month? Not only because I'm afraid of being caught cheating if I don't, but because this is the method and there's no stopping it.
Likewise, a commander, no matter how senior he is in the IDF, should not express doubts about the decisions of the political level above him.
Ahdad: I absolutely detest some of the decision-makers at the political level, but it is impossible for someone who carried the Israeli flag in the streets and shouted "democracy" to agree to the fact that senior officers conduct a dialogue with the people above the heads of their commanders, that is, undermining the source of authority theirs, only because the interpretation implied by the officer's words may be compatible with his political opinion.
By the way, this does not mean that the words of a senior officer do not deserve to be heard, but if in your opinion you serve people who are not worthy of sending you and your soldiers into battle, on the contrary - simply show your uniform and shout your cry: I am convinced that your resignation and that of other officers will make every Israeli perk up anxiously
Brigadier General Goldfuss in the fighting in the Gaza Strip. A respected commander who decided to address the people above the heads of his leaders/IDF spokesman
Which IDF should we be worthy of?
And here we come to what in my view is the stumbling block in Brigadier General Goldfuss's speech. His request-demand that we be worthy of him. I wish he had asked only for his soldiers, I wish he had thought that this was an unsuccessful wording, but the fear arises that this statement is reminiscent of the mindset of the "Lee, who still demands that we all not go back to October 6, is still stuck there himself.
Why?
Because the October 7 default was a military default.
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It is possible to talk about a concept from here until tomorrow, it is possible and obligatory to find out the conduct of the decision makers at the political level and at their head - that of the Prime Minister throughout almost all the years of building that damned concept.
I am ready to go one step further here and say that Netanyahu should have resigned a long time ago, that even according to his own definition (Olmert at the time) the ultimate responsibility rests on him - and I am even ready to say that every day that he leads the war and babbles about "total victory" just to postpone any discussion about A "relative" victory - is another day when the State of Israel is stuck on a dead end road.
And yet, despite the belief that it is impossible for the political echelon - and the Prime Minister at its head, to escape from personal conclusions, the failure of that terrible Sabbath is a military failure.
Goldfuss is aware of this, he does not ignore the hump he carries (even if not personally, then as a senior commander in the IDF) and even mentions it in his words, but then he asks for a system that is worthy of him - until he feels like shouting: worthy of whom? Which IDF exactly ?
To the IDF that is suffering its soul in the campaign and unleashes almost daily heartbreaks for all of us under the veiled couplet of words "allowed to publish"?
Or perhaps the reference is to the IDF that did not wake up on the morning of October 7th, despite all the warning signs?
The same IDF that hundreds of the residents of the Western Negev, besieged by the military forces in Sderot, Bari, Ofakim and Kfar Gaza, wondered why it does not come to save them?
No, Brigadier General Goldfuss, this is not a light blow on the wing or a small pat on the back, it is the mark of Cain that is imprinted on the forehead of every senior commander in the IDF from October 7th until the publication of the conclusions of the commission of inquiry that will come, so that it will determine who can remain in his position and who must To disappear not only from the chain of command in the IDF but also from any other public position for the rest of his days.
IDF forces in the Gaza Strip. To salute the dedication of the fighters and in the same breath to remind the senior commanders of the failure due to which the campaign was forced upon us/IDF spokesperson
Military Achievement Ltd
This should not relax your hands, we look at the devotion with which you and your soldiers go into battle with appreciation and even admiration - and yet, we do not forget for one moment that any military achievement in Gaza will be with limited liability, "reasons for mitigation of punishment" by the body called the IDF, that the only reason The reason that has not yet been investigated is that we don't have a replacement army.
And from what is irreplaceable, for those who have: Netanyahu should have gone home yesterday, not today. Free us from his evil spirit, stop clinging to the horns of the altar before more blood is spilled over it - you will not hear a good word from me about the man And all his eyes are focused only on preserving his rotten rule.
And after all this, it has been written here before and will be pointed out again: Woe to us if we hang the terrible failure of October 7th, along with all the ills of this world, only on his neck.
Woe to us if we ignore the part of those who claim to be the successor him, in the formation of the losing concept against Hamas (and Hezbollah).
Woe to us if we ignore the fact that our neighbors do not want us here in any political deal of any kind, and that many of them hold a murderous ideology that did not start with Netanyahu and will not pass after him (in this respect, Gaza is like the biblical Sodom, it is easier to get out of it (some tzaddik than to win the majority of the population)
.Even if we want to concentrate on the events of October 7th alone: it is not possible that the hatred for Netanyahu, a large part of which he earned honestly, will blind our eyes to such an extent that we forget that he was not the one who was exposed to that warning on the night between Friday and Saturday, no He went to sleep in the hotel in Eilat, no, he thought that a symbolic reinforcement whose role was to stop a one-off incident on the fence was enough.
He is not the one who all the strings (and of course this is wisdom in hindsight, but since there was no excessive wisdom present in the event in real time, we have nothing but to be content with it) had to be tied before his eyes.
A burnt house in Kfar Gaza.
Let's not forget who here should be worthy of whom/Reuters
Who is the victim here?
The fact that there are many in the camp that opposes (for the thousandth time: rightly so!) Netanyahu who are willing to accept the approach of a senior army officer who fell asleep on guard and now demands that we be worthy of him (by the way, this is actually Netanyahu's doing, who sees himself as the victim of every affair in which others are injured), proves that the hatred for Netanyahu has transgressed Here quite a few people have their own opinion.
Recently, I hear more and more people around me who express open hope that the heads of the security establishment will remove Netanyahu (I am no longer talking about those who wish for more than that).
This is perhaps the place to mention that these are the same people who raise democracy in their throats, but at the moment they would be happy to throw it to a thousand hells, just to get rid of the man.
For them, Brigadier General Goldfuss' speech was a tiny step in this direction.
Since there was severe criticism of the IDF and its functioning, it is necessary to make it clear for the thousandth time: the IDF is you and me, it is our parents before us and our children after us, it is not replaceable, but it is definitely Worth investigating and correcting.
To the courage of the IDF fighters, certainly to a senior commander like Goldfuss, I have nothing but to salute.
It's just that after this clarification that the IDF, its soldiers and commanders are rightfully entitled to, it should be mentioned that while isolated and as small groups our soldiers show supreme bravery, as a large and whole group we are talking about a system that would be woeful to us if we forget the sins of October 7th.
Therefore, while it asks us to be worthy of it , we wish her to be worthy of the terrible sacrifice of the children of the settlements of the Western Negev, those whose lives she was supposed to protect - and she failed a failure that is not terrible.
More on the same topic:
IDF
Benjamin Netanyahu
Gaza war