A senior IDF officer has criticized the Chief of Staff's decision to begin promoting a round of appointments of senior military officials at the level of brigadier general and colonel, despite the fact that the investigations into the war and the failures which led to October 7th have not yet begun.
"The General Staff Forum has no mandate to discuss placements. This is a forum that has forgotten what it means to take personal responsibility and bear the harsh consequences of October 7th," says the officer.
He adds, "People have lost direction and there's a difficult atmosphere among the lower echelons."
The officer is not the only one sounding this criticism. In the Intelligence Unit, senior and junior officers will be appointed on the recommendation of their commanders, headed by Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliwa, the extent of whose responsibility has not yet been examined. Military sources argue that it is inappropriate for commanders who failed on October 7th, to appoint their replacements who will lead a similar approach to the one they have taken in recent years.
According to the sources, the senior officers should have waited until the end of their term of duty or taken personal responsibility and left now, so that the appointments would be carried out by those who were not part of the October 7th failure.
The IDF explains that there is an urgent need to appoint commanders, both because of the lack of space and because of the process of promoting officers in the army, which is liable to get stuck and cause damage for years to come.