The countdown to IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi's resignation has begun, Yediot Aharonot military analyst Yossi Yehoshua wrote in a Thursday morning article.
According to him, Halevi bears the burden of responsibility for the greatest security failure in the history of modern Israel: the October 7 massacre.
Yehoshua noted that the critical decisions Halevi made that night were wrong: "Halevi took the decision not to bring the the IAF chief and intelligence chief to the situational assessment," he wrote.
In his opinion, the fact that the situational assessment was scheduled for 8:30 a.m. shows that Halevi did not properly assess the severity of the situation and did not update the Prime Minister and Defense Minister in real time. He also called on Halevi to resign his position, and "go home."
In addition to personal responsibility, Yehoshua pointed to a deeper crisis within the IDF itself: "The military is suffering the greatest crisis in its history," he wrote, noting that the crisis is expressed not only in the loss of the public's faith in the IDF but also in the loss of faith that the lower commanders have in the military's higher echelons.
In his article, Yehoshua also pointed an accusing finger at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that he "did not come out clean from all the strategic decisions that he made: Strengthening Hamas at the expense of the Palestinian Authority, shrinking the army, closing units, and improper preparation for a multi-front war. In addition, the Chiefs of Staff do not reduce mandatory military service of their own accord, and the defense budget which was cut versus the GDP which rose did not happen because of a [IDF] General Staff decision." The facts are that the "small, smart army" concept, leading to shrinking the size of the fighting forces and outsourcing weaponry were the policies put forward and implemented by Chiefs of Staff Dan Shomron, Ehud Barak, Benny Gantz and Aviv Kochavi, as Caroline Glick recently wrote.
"Halevi's resignation will not take away from his many merits," he added, though he noted that the fact that his name is signed on the country's greatest failure is not something anyone can ignore. "History will judge all those responsible - in the military and political echelons - for the failure that brought us to the most difficult security low."