Israeli forces failed on October 7, Halevi says amid new row
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The chief of staff of the Israeli occupation forces says they failed on October 7 as Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich blames General Staff.
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Israeli occupation forces Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi speaks during his transition ceremony with the Prime Minister, Security Minister, and the outgoing chief, in occupied al-Quds, occupied Palestine, January 16, 2023 (AP)
The Israeli military failed on October 7, and the responsibility for the failure lies on the military leadership, IOF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said on Sunday.
"Israel has a long way to go to achieve the goals of the war," Halevi added, noting that "stopping appointments in the army leadership will affect its work."
The IOF Chief of Staff also expressed the army's "readiness to expand the military operation according to the decisions of the political level."
Reports suggest that Halevi will carry out a massive round of appointments in the military on Monday, as he will appoint 52 new officers, including in two positions that are considered sensitive because they are directly related to the war on Gaza and the Israeli security and military failure during the attack on October 7th."
It was reported that "the two positions are the Intelligence Officer of the Southern Command of the army, and the Head of the Coordination and Liaison Administration responsible for the entry of aid into Gaza."Â
In this context, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attacked the General Staff of the Israeli military, saying that it "brought on Israel one of the greatest disasters in its history."
Smotrich commented on the IOF's announcement of a round of new appointments, saying that he would demand that the War Cabinet put an end to it.
He added that "if Halevi does not understand on his own that he should not be preoccupied with appointments that he described as 'not urgent,' then he must understand that through the cabinet."
Smotrich also expressed his belief that what will bring back the Israeli captives in Gaza is "cutting off communication and resuming the military effort intensively, and entering Rafah."
Worst failure for IOF
In an article published in the Israeli newspaper Maariv, Israeli Res. General Itzhak Brik said that Halevi was "isolated and silent, and has lost control of the ground for a long time."
Brik added that Halevi's decision to appoint new colonels and majors in his own image was "the most serious scandal and failure since the founding of the army and Israel."
He said that instead of taking responsibility and resigning, Halevi "decided to strengthen the generation of chaos and failure that he heads, along with the brigade commanders who are his partners in failure."
Brik also criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Security Minister Yoav Galant, and Halevi, saying that they were "leading Israel to nowhere, to a dead end from which there is no return."
He described the three men as "rusty, headless nails in the body of Israel," and said that they were "doing everything in their power to weaken Israel to the point of terror."
Brik added that they had "brought upon us the worst hell on earth in the history of Israel and are paving our way to the next hell without strategic thinking or rationality."Â
