Army chief spurns Smotrich’s W. Bank powers: IDF reports only to defense minister
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi denounced the government’s plan to restructure military authority in the West Bank in a series of interviews published on Friday, days before the end of his term as army chief, while largely rejecting the authority of the second minister appointed a role in the Defense Ministry — Religious Zionism chief Bezalel Smotrich.
Kohavi issued a stark warning that efforts by the new government to split off parts of the responsibilities from the defense minister to Smotrich, including authority over civil affairs in the West Bank, would damage the IDF’s command structure and hamper its battle readiness.
Smotrich’s role as a minister within the Defense Ministry ostensibly allows him to appoint the army generals leading the hybrid civil-military Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories and its office overseeing many settlement issues, the Civil Administration, subject to Netanyahu’s approval.
Speaking to Channel 12 news, Kohavi said: “The IDF chief reports to one minister, the minister of defense, and I have no doubt that this will continue.”
His comments drew a harsh response from Smotrich, who is also finance minister, with the far-right leader accusing the outgoing army chief of trying to lay the groundwork for a political career.
In wide-ranging interviews, Kohavi also detailed Israel’s ongoing efforts to combat Iran’s nuclear program and efforts to expand control across the region, and the challenge of foiling Palestinian terror.
“The IDF is responsible for everything happening in Judea and Samaria, and that’s how it needs to stay,” Kohavi told the Ynet news site, using the Biblical names for the West Bank.
“There cannot be two commanding authorities there,” said Kohavi, who steps down on Monday. “This is likely to cause damage and harm our readiness for war.”
“The work that the Border Police is doing in Judea and Samaria is excellent and I hope that the situation remains just as it is today. The chain of authority needs to be preserved,” he said, referring to plans to take away control of the force from the Israel Police and to place it under the direct control of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
Speaking to Channel 12, he added: “We cannot allow there to be two armies, with different procedures or different conceptions.”
If such a situation were to occur, he added, to prevent two separate chains of command the military might need to swap out Border Police forces with “soldiers from the standing army — who will consequently have less time for training — or with reservists, who already carry a heavy enough burden.”
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is said to have voiced similar sentiments, with Channel 12 reporting Gallant told army officers this week: “Nobody will get between me and the IDF chief, not even a millimeter. I’ll knock down anyone who tries.”
Responding to Ben Gvir’s frequent calls for security forces to have more lenient open-fire regulations, Kohavi was dismissive.
“People who think aggressive open-fire rules are the recipe for security are mistaken. It would produce the absolute opposite,” he said.
Currently, the major general in charge of COGAT is appointed by the defense minister at the recommendation of the IDF chief of staff, and the brigadier general overseeing the Civil Administration is appointed by the IDF chief of staff.
Smotrich reacted angrily to Kohavi’s criticism, accusing him of “populism” and laying the groundwork for a future in politics.
“If Kohavi wanted to understand and not just attack with populism in preparation for his entry into the political field, he could have talked to me and understood that the goal is not to harm the IDF’s chain of command but to remove the Civil Administration from the IDF and make it civilian,” Smotrich tweeted Friday.
“The IDF will deal with security and a civilian system will manage civilian life. Good for the citizens and good for the IDF,” he said.
“Kochavi is confused and forgot that Israel is a country that has an army and not an army that has a country. The responsibilities were transferred to me by law and I am convinced that his successor and the rest of the IDF commanders will act in accordance with the law,” Smotrich said.
Kohavi will have to face a three-year cooling-off period before he is allowed to enter politics as most of his predecessors have done.
Kohavi won support from former defense…
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