Defense Minister Israel Katz on Friday instructed outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi to reprimand Military Intelligence Directorate chief Major General Shlomi Binder for his alleged statements opposing US President Donald Trump's plan to relocate Gazans.
"There will not be a situation in which IDF officers speak out against US President Trump's important plan for Gaza, and against the instructions of the political echelon," Katz said. "I instructed the IDF to prepare to advance the plan for voluntary emigration for Gaza residents who would like to leave for other places in the world - and that is exactly what the IDF needs to do and will do."
On Thursday night, Channel 13 News quoted Binder as telling the diplomatic echelon to prepare for the month of Ramadan, which begins in two weeks, due to concerns that "Trump's plan will ignite the area." Alongside Binder, other senior IDF officials believe that the plan could work, but only in a limited fashion.
MK Itamar Ben Gvir, who heads the Otzma Yehudit party, said, "If the report that the Military Intelligence Directorate chief 'warned' against Trump's plan to advance emigration of Gaza residents is true, I call on my friend, Defense Minister Israel Katz, to immediately order his removal from the IDF."
"The very fact that the Military Intelligence Directorate chief, whose appointment to his office was born in sin, should issue a 'warning' teaches us that this is an officer who is trapped deep in the 'conceptzia' and that he does not know his place as an officer who is subjugated to the political echelon, after the Defense Minister himself already instructed the IDF to present practical plans to advance Trump's plan."