Netanyahu. There's a limit to how far he can go
צילום: גיל יוחנן
Bibi, butt out of army
Op-ed: Prime Minister Netanyahu’s desire to appoint Air Force chief disastrous for army
Officials at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office have become accustomed to interfering wherever they can, regardless of the outcome.
Under the chief honcho’s auspices, they already started to tamper with the legal system, registered several exceptional achievements in persecuting leftist groups, and continued with thuggish abuse of Israel’s media, at best trying to silence criticism but more realistically in a bid to turn national media outlets into the government’s loyal mouthpiece.
Another party being harassed by the Prime Minister’s Office is none other than our military commander, IDF Chief of Staff Major General Benny Gantz, and all of us should be disturbed by it. As reported by Yedioth Ahronoth’s Yossi Yehoshua last week, the PM seeks to appoint the next Air Force chief, in contradiction of the army chief’s view and decision.
Simply put, Netanyahu intends to revoke authority of the army chief in the face of the nation and of IDF soldiers. One need not be a great security expert here, as any lowly soldier understands the implication of a powerless military chief revoked of the right to make one of his most important decisions – appointing the commander of our Air Force; deciding who’s the one whom the army chief and us trust blindly in a potential showdown for the State’s existence.
Army chief or puppet?
The person who the prime minister wants to see in this post is Yohanan Locker, the military secretary at Netanyahu’s Office and also the brother of Harel Locker, who is the director general of Netanyahu’s office. It’s a family business after all (in Berlusconi’s Italian there’s a juicy name for this.)
Yet this time, even Netanyahu’s staunchest fans, who follow him blindly, should have realized there’s a limit to how far he can go. This time around it’s not some juicy story about Sara’s outbursts at her husband’s office, but rather, the army chief’s judgment and the trust of the government that appointed him.
Come on, people, does our military have a commander, or is he just a puppet?
Our prime minister, as well as the political corpse next him, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, would do well to immediately stand by Army Chief Gantz and express full support for his Air Force chief appointment and full trust in his professional authority.
