Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi did the right thing on Sunday by resigning due to his role in the October 7 debacle. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should now follow suit: resign and call for new elections.
Israel will only be able to fully move on from October 7 when all those who bear responsibility for the disaster have been replaced. Accountability demands change, not just admissions of guilt.
This means replacing both military leaders who failed to anticipate the events and protect the country’s citizens from the Hamas invasion and political leaders whose decisions over the years made such a catastrophe possible.The military failures on October 7 are painfully obvious – from not heeding the many warnings of an attack to the time it took the army and air force to repel the invaders.
The political failures span from ignoring Hamas’s buildup in Gaza since 2007 to entrenching Hamas in Gaza by allowing Qatar to send cash-filled suitcases every month and dismissing warnings that domestic divisions emboldened Israel’s enemies.
The only way forward
The country’s military and political leaders need to be replaced not as a form of punishment but rather as a way to jump-start the nation’s confidence in its leadership.
How can the country have faith in leaders responsible for a historic failure who remain in the same positions of authority? How can they be sure that these leaders won’t repeat the same assumptions and miscalculations?
This does not mean that the IDF didn’t have some head-spinning achievements since October 7 that have reshaped the Middle East – from decapitating Hezbollah to weakening Iran to destroying the Syrian army after the fall of Bashar al-Assad. But those achievements do not wipe out the colossal initial failure, for which there needs to be a reckoning.
Halevi’s resignation was quickly followed by OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Yaron Finkelman. Their resignations add to a growing list of senior IDF officials stepping aside, including Maj.-Gen. Aharon Haliva, former head of Military Intelligence, and Brig.-Gen. Avi Rosenfeld, former head of the Gaza Division.
Several more are expected, including Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) head Ronen Bar.
In contrast, the only political leader to resign was former defense minister Yoav Gallant, and his departure had more to do with political maneuvering than an expression of contrition over October 7.
While military leaders are resigning, thus setting examples regarding accountability – though some say it should not have taken them 15 months to do so – the country’s political leaders remain entrenched. They have not voluntarily moved aside.
Whereas Halevi’s resignation and that of other members of the top IDF brass will go far toward restoring faith in the integrity of the country’s military leadership, the refusal of the political echelon to do so will only create more cynicism and further erode public trust in government.
Moreover, the political echelon that has to admit responsibility does not only include Netanyahu but also opposition leaders such as Benny Gantz, who, as chief of staff from 2010-2015 and then defense minister five years later, bears a great deal of responsibility for the country’s policy toward Hamas since 2007.
Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid, whose divisive rhetoric helped fuel the divisions in the country that invited an enemy attack, should also be held accountable.
Halevi, in his resignation letter, called for an independent commission of inquiry to be set up, something which polls have consistently shown the public wants. An inquiry should enable the lessons of October 7 to be learned across the board: in the military, among the government, and among the opposition.
With Halevi stepping down and the expected resignation of several other top-level IDF officers, new appointments will need to be made. This provides the IDF with an opportunity to renew itself by appointing new leaders, untainted by October 7 and unburdened by the same groupthink that made the Hamas attack possible.
These leaders can bring a fresh perspective to how the IDF should prepare and operate – something October 7 showed is badly needed. Following October 7, the country needs new faces and innovative strategies.
The high-level IDF resignations create the opportunity for this to happen in the military. A similar opportunity should be afforded the political echelon through new elections – the sooner, the better.
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