Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich continues to attack the Chief of Staff's intention to conduct a new round of appointments in the IDF, saying that he does not have the mandate to do so since he bears responsibility for the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel.
In an in interview with Channel 12 News, Smotrich said: "The General Staff of the IDF brought upon us one of the greatest disasters in the history of the country. He didn't just fail on October 7th. This is a long-standing failure. And he should not be appointing the future commanders of the army."
In the meantime, Smotrich sent a letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu calling on him to bring to tonight's cabinet meeting a resolution to stop the new round of appointments.
In the letter, he writes: "The argument heard to justify the supposed urgency of making the appointments in wartime is that the war is dragging on for a long time and that the officers in the various positions are expecting a promotion and some of them will not remain in the system without new assignments."
"With all due respect, this is a far-fetched, even outrageous argument. Hundreds of thousands of reservists left their jobs and homes, and aren't even asking for a promotion at work. If they can pause their normal course of life for the duration of the war, IDF officers can do so as well."
The Chairman of Religious Zionism Party further claims that the current Chief of Staff has no right to appoint the future generation of officers. "We are providing full backing to the IDF and the rest of the security agencies in regards to the war until victory is achieved, even while we may not agree with every decision they make. However, this trust and backing cannot be used for other things. The current command of the IDF has only one mandate - to win the war and nothing else. They have no mandate to shape the IDF of the coming years," he states.
"After the war, new leadership will be appointed; leadership that was not part of the current concept and advocates a much more offensive approach. That leadership will shape the IDF and carry out changes that need to be made in future years.
"Unfortunately, despite the public criticism, the Chief of Staff has not retracted his intentions to make new appointments with the help of the Minister of Defense, and therefore there is no way around having the cabinet prevent him from taking this step."
Addressing Netanyahu, he writes: "I will ask you to bring this decision to the cabinet again at tonight's meeting to prevent a situation where the decision is made retrospectively and we are required to cancel appointments that have already been made. During the nine months preceding the war, I was wrong and put up with decisions that I did not agree with, I bowed my head to the arrogance and disdain of the heads of the administration towards me and those who thought like me in the cabinet."
"I did not take any overriding steps and find myself inevitably bearing the burden for the terrible disaster of Oct. 7th. No more. I cannot remain silent and continue to be part of the continuation of the same way of thinking in the IDF. I will not be able to put up with the aforementioned round of appointments," concludes Smotrich.