Since October 7th I have been glued to the news updates like so many in our country. I am closely following the reports from the south and the north, interpreting the codes that we have all known for decades, "difficult battle", "complex encounter", "heavy exchange of fire." The heart skips a beat while the mind begs for good news.
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I am going to write here what I consider to be obvious. I'm learning that what seems obvious not only doesn't come naturally, but sometimes it's not even understood. I have no intention of arguing with those who do enjoy arguing and bickering, but I would still like to mention what for was taken for granted many years.
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Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi visits the northern border amid exchanges with Hezbollah
(Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
What comes to us as the security reports embodies one of the most complex professions there is. IDF commanders are required to take on responsibility use their expertise and resources: time spent either day or night, ability to analyze and manage, ability to understand, deepen and apply knowledge in several disciplines while using it at the right time with discretion that takes into account several arenas, ability to improvise, ability to withstand pressure in extreme situations that are not in laboratory conditions, under real fire and not as an expression, you have mental powers in managing personnel and sometimes even leading them in combat, and so on.
Not everyone is eager for this commitment, not everyone insists on carrying such a heavy responsibility on their shoulders. And those who find their way up the ranks of the IDF often sacrifice the same pleasures of those who live a life where the boundaries of the profession and professionalism are clearer.
And even though not every person wants a position in the army, we in our country have been blessed that those who want the position are also excellent people. As someone who has met these people countless times in the last decade, I stand behind these words with full responsibility: the best of the best people, dedicated smart and sophisticated. People who care about our people, in this land, in this country. People whose belief in our righteousness is part of their everyday life.
I want to say to them these days, three months into this hard war for our very existence: I see you my brothers. I see you. I see you torture yourself thinking about where you went wrong. Seeing the thoughts run back hundreds of times to the point in time when you could have acted differently. I see in your gaze the pain for the dead, for the abducted, for all those who worked day-by-day and hour-by-hour to make their lives better.
I hear the echo of your responsibility for the arising situation before you even took it. I feel the magnitude of the guilt that rests on your hearts. I am writing to you what is in my heart and hope that it will lighten your heavy heart in some way: I admire your ability to get up from the horror of the battlefield and keep advancing. I thank your strength and your ability to bear the collapse and continue to lead us in this war, when only its goals and achievements stand before your eyes, as lovers of life and lovers of country.
I believe that everyone makes mistakes, and sometimes the mistakes are terrible and lead to an abyss, but I know that in your complex profession you are the best and I am sure that you have the knowledge and the ability to rise from the collapse. That's because you are the army that does not give up on itself, that tirelessly investigates and improves without reservations.
And to you, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, our Chief of Staff, you are among the only ones whose personality can be used to understand the terrible and wonderful expression of "the salt of the earth". You are a scion of a family that sacrificed itself for the preservation of this land. Your uncle fell in the Six Day War in the battle for the liberation of Jerusalem. I know from where you come from and what are your values, which we were all privileged to see implemented in your performance and your statements, which do not contain the slightest attempt to obfuscate. We are privileged to see you leading our military at this time. I see you, my brother Herzi. I am with you. The angel who redeems me from all evil bless the boys. Everyone, all of you, return home safely.
Reuven Rivlin was Israel's 10th president.