Father of soldier killed on Oct. 7 to petition appointment of new IDF intel chief

The father of a soldier killed during Hamas’s October 7 onslaught said Friday that he will petition the High Court of Justice against the appointment of Brig. Gen. Shlomi Binder as the next head of the Military Intelligence Directorate, saying his role in the failures of that day need to be investigated first.

In a post on the X social media site, Yehoshua Shani, the father of Cpt. Ori Mordechay Shani, who was killed battling Hamas terrorists, said he will petition the “scandalous” appointment of Binder with other families of fallen soldiers.

“My holy son, Cpt. Ori Mordechay Shani, a platoon commander in Golani’s 51st Battalion, fell in a heroic battle at the Kissufim post,” he wrote.“He and his troops fought the terrorists for long hours and eliminated many of them, without the senior IDF officers, including Brig. Gen. Shlomi Binder, the head of the Operations Division who is responsible for preparing IDF troops for such situations, being in sight.”

Shani says Binder should not be allowed to enter the role “before his part in the failures is revealed, through a state commission on inquiry.”

On Thursday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced the promotions of five generals, including Binder.

Binder is to replace Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, who announced his resignation over his role in the failures in the lead-up to the Hamas attack.

The appointments were made despite opposition by some lawmakers, who have contended that the military should not make such changes amid the war, and that they shouldn’t be decided upon by the military leadership that failed to prevent Hamas’s October 7 massacre.

The appointment of Haliva’s replacement was considered the most significant. Binder, currently serves as head of the Operations Division — under the Operations Directorate. He previously commanded the 91st “Galilee” Regional Division in northern Israel.

Critics, especially lawmakers from the right, have argued that as Halevi had failed in his role in the October 7 attack, he should not be the one to appoint commanders.

They have also said that senior officers should not be promoted until the military finishes probing its failures that led to the Hamas attack, as some generals may have been involved in the missteps.

The IDF said the nominated officers would all be promoted to the rank of major general in the coming months before they enter their roles “gradually.”

The officers chosen for the top roles were “commanders who stood out in combat in the field and at headquarters,” the military said.

Following the IDF’s announcement, far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fire Gallant.

Gallant was one of those responsible for the government’s mistaken security conception prior to October 7, Ben Gvir contended in a post on social media, arguing that he “does not have a mandate to approve the appointments of generals and design the next general staff of the IDF.”

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also slammed the appointments, saying in a video statement that “regardless of the identity of the officers, the appointments of IDF major generals who will lead the correction of the army after the failures, cannot be made by the chief of staff whose name is signed on the military failures.”

“It’s not legitimate. That’s not how things are fixed. This is not how trust is restored,” he said.

According to a report by the Kan public broadcaster, Netanyahu was updated on the nominations just shortly before the announcement.

Still, Halevi has avoided appointing new commanders to roles considered sensitive and related to ongoing internal probes into the IDF’s failures in the lead-up to the October 7 attack, aside from the new intel chief.