Attorney Omer Ben-Hamu deputy director of the 'Generation of Victory' movement, sharply criticized the decisions the Chief of Staff made regarding the senior officers he found responsible for the failure that preceded the October 7 massacre.
"There is a huge gap between the law applied to the combat soldier and junior commander and the law applied to the senior commander," he says, and presents several examples familiar to many: "When I was in the Egoz course we were on a land navigation course around Jerusalem. A good friend, after a year and a month in the course, stopped to eat a shawarma. That day he was tried and kicked out of the unit. Another friend who lost a weapon sat in jail. In contrast, these people lost the southern border and nothing happens to them."
Ben-Hamu notes that "After this terrible disaster only one commander in the IDF was removed. Herzi Halevi and Haliva resigned on their own, all the officers who received command reprimands have already completed their service. Only the intelligence officer of the Gaza Division was removed. Imagine a private company whose profits fall by thirty percent. Heads would roll and the workforce would not remain the same. After October 7th, how does the IDF does not think people should go home? What message does that send to the frontline soldier? Where is the example for soldiers and their commanders? Soldiers sit in detention because they took souvenirs from a house in Gaza and the people responsible for October 7 are not dismissed. Where is the accountability?"
Ben-Hamu recalls that the army has punished senior officers for other offenses, and often severely. "There is fear of new forces rising in the people of Israel, forces without an approach of inclusion and rotations. The General Staff knows that after they throw out the old guard that proved on October 7 that it is unfit, others will enter, like David Zini. The great fear is the change in spirit."
He stresses that he is not eager to see a major commander's pension cut or any officer go to prison. Rather, something else worries him. "I am anxious for the army because if the message it sends is that you can be responsible for the southern sector, remain there throughout the war, and retire voluntarily and then be told you cannot do reserves, what message does that send to the soldier and the commander in the field about the consequences of their actions? Where is the culture of responsibility? There is no army without all of these things."
He says he hears these feelings coming up from the field. "This is the experience of every soldier. I believe that as rank increases responsibility should increase accordingly. With great sorrow I say that it appears the equation is reversed: the greatest responsibility is on the lowest-ranking soldier and the smallest on the Chief of Staff. If the message is that higher rank reduces responsibility, it signals to soldiers whom the army prefers."
Ben-Hamu reinforced his remarks with reference to the legal defense arrangements for soldiers. While minor offenses by low-ranking soldiers receive a public defender, sen or officers receive the services of the most expensive lawyer in the country funded by the army, which recruited him for that purpose. He also mentions senior lawyers who were mobilized to reserves to advise the army's generals ahead of establishing an inquiry committee. "It is the same pattern: one treatment for the soldier in the field and the junior commander and another that costs millions from our taxes for the senior command."
"Why doesn't a soldier who perhaps made a mistake in the field receive a top-tier lawyer? Does the senior command serve the soldiers and the aims of the war, or is it a closed caste? I was sure the national interest was foremost, but the conduct I have seen shows something else."
"There cannot be different rules for the general and the soldier. There is great disappointment with Zamir on this matter. We are in an army where five of the investigations are cover-ups, and that is criminal. If the Chief of Staff does not do his job, then the politicians must. We see the Defense Minister fighting for this, and this is one of the points that cannot be conceded. This is a moral point that trickles down and reflects on the entire army," Ben-Hamu said.