Lt.-Gen. (ret.) Dan Halutz, who served as IDF chief of staff during the Second Lebanon War (2006), called on Israel’s senior military leadership to take a stand against the political echelon and argue that the current reality in Lebanon has become “useless” in an interview with 103FM on Wednesday.
According to Halutz, the problems in Lebanon stem from the fact that Israeli soldiers had been sent into danger without a clearly defined objective.
“Sadly, these are our wonderful soldiers, who do everything with courage, but they do not know how to deliver results that were never defined,” Halutz said, equating the soldiers in Lebanon to sitting ducks.
Additionally, he said, the capture of Beaufort Ridge was “meaningless without a grand strategy.”
“[Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu was looking for symbols,” he insisted. “Suddenly, he remembered former prime minister Menachem Begin’s symbol from 44 years ago and latched onto it.”
Halutz stated the IDF’s top commanders need to be the ones to tell their government superiors that the situation has gone on for too long, and a different solution is needed, as criticism is not likely to come from Netanyahu’s political circle.
“First of all, I would expect that within his silent inner circle, someone would speak up,” he said. “There are people there who I once thought had their own positions and a spine, and today I see only weakness.”
Halutz said, looking at Netanyahu's inner circle, he only saw weakness
When asked if he was speaking about specific individuals, Halutz said he didn’t believe anyone in Netanyahu’s circle was capable of saying what they truly believed.
“Their hearts and mouths are not the same. That is what characterizes the country,” he said.
However, Halutz stressed, the military echelon would not be able to disobey direct orders from the government.
“It is the responsibility of the army’s leader to stand before the government and tell it that these paths have been exhausted.”
Defeating Netanyahu will likely come down to Eisenkot or Bennett, Halutz said
With the new election season beginning, Halutz also assessed the state of the opposition and criticized several of its leaders, noting that the most likely contestants to defeat Netanyahu would be Naftali Bennett or Gadi Eisenkot.
“My heart leans more toward Eisenkot, but my head is with Bennett,” he said. “The heart is emotion, and the mind is the correct analysis.”
“Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz have no value,” Halutz criticized. “Gantz should retire from personal responsibility, and Lapid has basically already retired. He joined Bennett, and that is the end of it. He erased his party.”
In an unexpected move, Halutz also praised the Arab parties, noting that they, at least, “are uniting their strength,”
“At least they sit among themselves, do not leak their objections to one another, and come as one organization.”
“They will increase their strength,” Halutz added. “And we, the wise Israeli Jews, sit and fight with one another and fail to reach agreements instead of maximizing our power.”