Defense Minister Israel Katz and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi went into open war on Wednesday over the handling of issues relating to the October 7 attack as well as future senior IDF appointments.
Katz replaced Yoav Gallant as defense minister in early November and since then has repeatedly challenged Halevi’s authority, with the IDF chief mostly playing defense until now.
However, on Wednesday, Katz publicly sided with State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman against Halevi over his probe into the IDF regarding October 7, while also needling the IDF chief about finishing the military’s own probes in the next three weeks.
Unlike past moves by Katz, where Halevi retreated and signaled he would bend his head in deference to who, at least on a formal basis, is his civilian boss, on Wednesday Halevi slammed Katz for sending out public messages to the media over sensitive, complex national security issues instead of discussing the issues privately behind closed doors.
Further, while Halevi has said he will try to finish the IDF probes into October 7 within three weeks, he seemed to hint on Wednesday that this might not be possible due to the ongoing war distracting the focus of the various commanders needed to finish the probes.
He made it clear that he viewed ongoing military operations as a higher goal than even following Katz’s deadline regarding the October 7 probes or complying with all probe requests of the comptroller.
The dispute occurs against the backdrop of the idea that once the probe results come out, the pressure on Halevi and many of his top generals to resign will grow significantly.
Many observers believe that pushing Halevi and other generals out of office is Katz’s true goal and that he is acting at the behest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu so that he can blame the October 7 attack more firmly on Halevi and the IDF and gain more complete control of the military.
In contrast, Halevi has dropped hints that he may not resign before there is a hostage exchange deal, which he believes should have occurred this past summer. Further, Halevi’s holding off announcing the probe results could be another way to pressure Netanyahu into making the hostage deal with Hamas.
However, some observers have said that Halevi is in no rush to issue the IDF’s probe results as long as Netanyahu refuses to allow the beginning of a probe into his own actions relating to October 7.
Moreover, Halevi’s compliance with the probe is also slow-walked due to his perception of the comptroller as a Netanyahu partisan whose goal is to blame the IDF for October 7 even more so than Netanyahu.
Clashes with government
Already on Tuesday, Englman publicly accused Halevi and the IDF of continuing to undermine his probe.
Although Englman complimented the IDF for finally granting his office interviews with top commanders relating to October 7, he complained that the IDF was trying to influence their testimony by having high-command representatives present at each meeting.
The comptroller also accused the IDF of secretly recording these meetings and then refusing to hand over copies of the recordings once he had realized. Finally, Englman said that some officers had refused to answer questions, saying they had been given legal advice not to cooperate.
On Wednesday, the IDF responded that some officers had gotten their own legal counsel from the IDF public defender, but that the high command had not interfered.
The military did not specifically address why it had secretly recorded interviews and refused to provide copies of the recordings, or why it was sending representatives to every meeting, though it did deny any attempt to influence its officers’ testimony.
Rather, the IDF implied that it simply wanted to know everything said by its officers for its own records.
Responding to the IDF’s comment, Defense Minister Spokesman Adir Dahan appeared to call for the resignation of IDF Chief Spokesperson Daniel Hagari.
“The IDF Spokesman, who has already apologized for previously going beyond his authority by having attacked the civilian echelon – once again has exceeded his authority by attacking and preaching ethics to the political echelon. This time an apology will not be sufficient,” said Dahan.
National Unity Chair Benny Gantz stressed on X in response to the conflict that "Trust between the Minister of Defense and the Chief of Staff is an integral part of national security."
אמון בין שר ביטחון לרמטכ״ל הוא חלק בלתי נפרד מביטחון המדינה. אני ממליץ לחברי השר כ״ץ, להשתמש יותר בשיחות אישיות עם הרמטכ״ל והקצונה הבכירה, ופחות בהודעות דוברות ואיומי פיטורים. באותה מידה, מצופה ממנו כמי שאחראי על מערכת הביטחון, לפעול באותה נחישות שהוא פועל להצגת תחקירי השבעה…
— בני גנץ - Benny Gantz (@gantzbe) January 8, 2025
Gantz added that he recommended that Katz change his style of communication with both the Chief of Staff and the defense ministry officials, stressing that it may be better if Katz took a friendlier approach with "fewer press releases and threats of dismissal."