IDF chief reprimands former deputy for slamming Bennett – report

Outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot has reportedly reprimanded his former deputy, Maj. Gen. Yair Golan, for publicly lashing out at Education Minister Naftali Bennett last week.

The IDF spokesperson said the army did not authorize Golan’s interview on the 103FM radio station last Thursday, and that Eiskenot discussed his remarks about Bennett.

“Chief of Staff Eisenkot informed the officer regarding the procedures and expectations from a uniformed officer during an interview,” the IDF spokesperson said Sunday, according to a report in the Yedioth Ahronoth daily.

Golan served as Eisenkot’s deputy until late 2016. He was recently passed over for the role of chief of staff and is expected to retire from military service in the coming months.

Golan’s public criticism also drew ire from ministers, who during Sunday’s cabinet meeting slammed him for publicly expressing opinions about political leaders.

According to Yedioth, cabinet ministers agreed that Golan’s statement was inappropriate and said that while IDF officers are welcome to express their professional opinions behind closed doors, they should not air their opinions of politicians.

Golan told 103FM last Thursday that “elected officials make a habit of mistreating public servants, those who are not elected and cannot respond and speak out. It’s an obscene practice.”

Golan was responding to Bennett’s controversial claim that the army was too concerned with the legalities of war to fight effectively. “We impose on our warriors legal and conceptual hoops” they must jump through, said Bennett. “Our warriors are more worried about the Military Advocate General than about [Hamas leader] Yahya Sinwar in Gaza.”

Bennett made the controversial comments at a press conference in the Knesset earlier this month, in which he reneged on his ultimatum to resign from the government if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not appoint him defense minister.

“Legal issues never prevented commanders from acting in the field before,” Golan responded in the radio interview. “Bennett weakens the army and the State of Israel. It’s a shame… but maybe it pleases his constituents.”

Golan was not the only one to take issue with Bennett’s claim. Eisenkot, Netanyahu and Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit also hit back at the minister’s remarks.

Eisenkot opened a meeting with the army’s general staff last week by backing the Military Advocate General unit as “part of the IDF’s strength.”

“It stands shoulder to shoulder with the army’s commanders and warriors in carrying out their operational goals and winning on the battlefield,” he said, calling for the army to be left out of political debates.

In a brief tweet last Monday, Netanyahu responded by saying that “IDF troops are not afraid of anyone.”

Golan has drawn criticism for other controversial statements he has made about the government and the army’s treatment of Palestinians.

He once said that it was “intolerable” that Israeli soldiers place Palestinian civilians in harm’s way instead of themselves.

Golan also drew public ire in a national Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony in 2016, when he compared “horrifying” trends in Israeli society to those of pre-World War II Germany.

While his critique of Israeli society was likely aimed at support for Jewish extremist actions, Golan specifically touched upon the issue of moral flaws within the army, saying the strength of the IDF was its ability to thoroughly investigate and punish wrongdoers “and take responsibility for the good and the bad” without justifying negative actions or attempting to cover them up.

The speech came amid national hand-wringing over the case of Elor Azaria, a soldier who had shot and killed a wounded and disarmed Palestinian assailant in Hebron months earlier.

Earlier this year, 100 members of bereaved families wrote to then-defense minister Avigdor Liberman asking that Golan not be nominated as the next chief of staff in light of those remarks.