Generals vie to lead Israel’s military
AS THE Israeli government prepares to select a new chief of staff for the IDF, the process is — as always — not just about which officer is best prepared professionally to lead Israel’s military. There is a lot of politics involved, too.
Four candidates are being interviewed by Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who will make the recommendation to the cabinet.
Mr Lieberman has already been forced to publicly condemn a far-right group’s campaign against one of the candidates, Yair Golan, a former deputy chief of staff. He came under fire two years ago when he said: “If there’s something that frightens me about Holocaust remembrance it’s the recognition of the revolting processes that occurred in Europe in general, and particularly in Germany, back then — 70, 80 and 90 years ago — and finding signs of them here among us today in 2016.” The irony is that Gen Golan is thought to be the most right wing of the candidates in his own political views. He has an impressive combat record but that controversial statement could have put him out of the running.
The frontrunner is the current deputy chief of staff, Aviv Kochavi, a former Paratrooper Brigade commander who also headed the military intelligence branch. But some in the IDF fear that the politicians will be wary of being overshadowed by Gen Kochavi’s commanding presence.
The other two candidates are Nitzan Alon and Eyal Zamir. Gen Alon is a former commander of Sayeret Matkal, the IDF’s most elite special-operations unit, but carries the label of a “leftist” and is seen as an unlikely choice. Gen Zamir, meanwhile, spent most of his field career in the Armoured Corps and is considered the least prominent candidate, but has the advantage of having served in the past as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s military secretary.