Last update - 00:00 24/01/2007
Restoring the IDF to itself
By Haaretz Editorial
The quick decision by Amir Peretz to appoint Major General (res.) Gabi Ashkenazi as the next Israel Defense Forces chief of staff is his most important decision as defense minister. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's consent to the recommendation allows the IDF to turn over a new leaf.
This correct decision, which will certainly impact the image of the IDF in the years to come, is not directed against the deputy chief of staff, Moshe Kaplinsky. It does not disqualify him as a candidate for the position in the future. The circumstances after the second Lebanon war created a new reality, which this time requires a different choice. Israel cannot be left without a chief of staff for even one week. The resignation of Dan Halutz heralds a new beginning. It is to be hoped that Judge Tirkel will complete vetting the candidate as soon as possible so the cabinet can approve the recommendation of the prime minister and the defense minister that Ashkenazi be appointed the IDF's 19th chief of staff.
Time is of the essence. The IDF must return to itself, to being a fighting military organization, muscular and smart. It will find this difficult if it does not insist, first and foremost, on being the "Israel Defense Forces." It must not waste its resources and its energy at roadblocks in the territories, on arresting thousands of Palestinians suspected of terrorist activity or creating a barrier between settlers and Palestinians. That work (some of it unrealistic, some of it necessary) should be assigned first of all to the Shin Bet security service, the Border Police and the Israel Police.
Time is of the essence because the threats facing Israel did not disappear with the cease-fire ending the second Lebanon war. Hezbollah is now trying to bring down the Siniora government and generate fundamental change in the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701. While Syria is inviting Israel to negotiations, it continues to smuggle large quantities of arms, including from Iran, to Hezbollah. Palestinian organizations continue to fire Qassam rockets on the Negev. And, of course, the growing Iranian nuclear threat must not be forgotten. The war in Iraq is constantly changing shape, and there is no telling how it will affect the future of the region and Israel.
A great deal of work lies ahead for Ashkenazi. Formally, he left the army (in 2005), but he did not leave the defense establishment. In the meantime, he has garnered experience in administration and economics as director general of the Defense Ministry and in a course in advanced management at Harvard. As part of his job, he dealt with the serious disagreement between Israel and the United States around the claim that Israel sold a weapons system to China without U.S. consent.
Ashkenazi knows the North very well, including the other side of the border with Lebanon and Syria. Among his first tasks will be to scrutinize the IDF's new plan of operation and the reorganization that was implemented before the war. He will have to recommend a prioritized plan to protect the area around the Gaza Strip against rockets, as well as the means to intercept Katyushas. The hope is, and this has a good chance of happening, that the IDF will regain its composure and will renew the public's faith in it.