The Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, has faced unprecedented challenges over the past year as he has sought to lead the IDF in one of its most difficult wars in history.
On one hand, he is blamed as the IDF chief who failed to stop Hamas’s October 7, 2023 invasion, the greatest military and national disaster since the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Because of that failure, he committed shortly after the start of the war to resign early as a sign of taking responsibility. On the other hand, he has received high marks from many for his management of the war since then, especially with his defeat of all 24 Hamas battalions in Gaza. However, even after his success in invading Gaza, he has been criticized by many, especially since June when the invasion of Rafah was mostly complete, for not fulfilling his promise to resign early. He has still maintained that he will resign early, but has not given a time frame.
The Israeli cabinet confirmed Halevi’s promotion to his current role in October 2022, just under a year before the Hamas invasion. He formally took charge of the IDF in January 2023.
Halevi, born in 1967, began his career in the IDF in 1985, serving in the Paratroopers Brigade and then in the elite Sayeret Matkal unit. He served in Lebanon and fought in the Second Intifada. He was a former commander of the 91st Division, which defends northern Israel, as well as head of Southern Command. Next, he was head of IDF intelligence and deputy IDF chief of staff. He holds a BA from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and an MA from the National Defense University in the US.
He assumed command of the IDF when it was undergoing a rapid modernization into the digital era as part of the Momentum Plan. The IDF was acquiring new drones as well as new armored personnel carriers and developing new artillery. The Hamas attack on October 7 caught the IDF by surprise, resulting in a massacre of Israelis and forcing Israel to call up more than 300,000 soldiers. Halevi has managed the war effort for a year, commanding one of the largest armies Israel has kept in the field over a long period of time.
As if to underscore the challenges he and the IDF now face on multiple fronts, he traveled on September 18 to northern Israel to meet with the army’s Northern Command as Hezbollah threatened to widen the war against Israel. “We are very determined to create the security conditions that will return the residents to their homes, to the communities with a high level of security, and we are ready to do all that is required to bring about these things,” he said that day. “Throughout the war, for almost a year, we have been fighting in Gaza with two main goals, as well as others – dismantling Hamas and returning the hostages. We have achieved a lot, and we still have further to go.” How he will be judged on the major escalation with Hezbollah which started on September 17 is still an open question.
The Israeli cabinet confirmed Halevi’s promotion to his current role in October 2022, just under a year before the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. He formally took charge of the IDF in January 2023.
The IDF’s rapid modernization
Halevi, born in 1967, began his career in the IDF in 1985, serving in the Paratroopers Brigade and then in the elite Sayeret Matkal unit. He served in Lebanon and fought in the Second Intifada. He was a former commander of the 91st Division, which defends northern Israel, as well as head of Southern Command. He holds a BA from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and an MA from the National Defense University in the US.
He assumed command of the IDF when it was undergoing a rapid modernization into the digital era as part of the Momentum Plan. The IDF was acquiring new drones as well as new armored personnel carriers and developing new artillery. The Hamas attack on October 7 caught the IDF by surprise, resulting in a massacre of Israelis and forcing Israel to call up more than 300,000 soldiers. Halevi has managed the war effort for a year, commanding one of the largest armies Israel has kept in the field over a long period of time.
As if to underscore the challenges he and the IDF now face on multiple fronts, he traveled on September 18 to northern Israel to meet with the army’s Northern Command as Hezbollah threatened to widen the war against Israel.
“We are very determined to create the security conditions that will return the residents to their homes, to the communities with a high level of security, and we are ready to do all that is required to bring about these things,” he said that day. “Throughout the war, for almost a year, we have been fighting in Gaza with two main goals, as well as others – dismantling Hamas and returning the hostages. We have achieved a lot, and we still have further to go.” How he will be judged on the major escalation with Hezbollah which started on September 17 is still an open question.
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