420 days into the war, it seems that the Chief of Staff has run out of excuses, and he must publish the investigations into the failure of 7.10 and draw personal conclusions for those involved, including himself.
Most of the investigations were already completed three months ago, but their submission to the Chief of Staff and then to the public was postponed due to the war in the north. Now, after the ground maneuver has almost concluded, the ceasefire has come into effect, and the rocket fire has ended – it's time to release the bottleneck and present the conclusions of the failure investigations.
Until now, the IDF has only published the investigation into the battle at Be'eri, in order to clear the event's commander – Barak Hiram – so he can be appointed as the commander of the Gaza Division. In the meantime, the Chief of Staff decided on a long series of appointments and promotions – some of them directly involved in the failures and some were candidates but not appointed – until even the Minister of Defense, Israel Katz, was forced to cancel two such appointments, of senior officers in the Southern Command, in an unusual move.
Take responsibility, present conclusions on the failure, and resign.
In recent months, it has been said in the IDF that the Chief of Staff is busy on the northern front. Now, after the successful attack in the north, it's time for the IDF to take responsibility not just in statements but also in actions. It is unacceptable to delay and postpone the publication of the investigations into the biggest military failure in IDF history and the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. The Chief of Staff, the Commander of the Southern Command, the Head of the Operations Division (who has since been promoted to Head of Military Intelligence), and the Commander of the Northern Division in Gaza, continue to hold their positions more than a year after the failure.
Additional officers, whose responsibility and guilt for the failure are indeed already retired (some for non-military reasons), but the public has a duty to know the extent of their negligence or even criminality that led to the massacre.
And even more so, just last week, the former Golani Brigade Chief of Staff, Colonel (Res.) Yoav Yirum, announced his resignation from his position due to the incident in which Zabo Erlich was brought into Lebanon. This is what leadership looks like, and this is what command looks like. The Chief of Staff and the rest of the senior officers – definitely not there.
It seems that at a time of relative calm in the north and moderate activity in the Gaza Strip, it is the time for the command responsibility to not remain merely declarative but also practical. After him, the heads of the other security branches should also take responsibility and resign. And also the political echelon, led by the Prime Minister.