Gantz defends IDF chief from criticism amid recent deadly blunders by troops

Defense Minister Benny Gantz defends IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi amid recent outcries over light punishments meted out over the deaths of two officers in a friendly fire incident last month and the death of an elderly Palestinian man who suffered heart failure after he was left bound and blindfolded by soldiers.

“We must investigate every irregularity and correct it and educate fearlessly. Indeed, punishment is needed for those who do not live up to our norms and rules, but punishment isn’t everything. No less important is to learn lessons and, sometimes, introspection by the high command ranks as to missions and the way that forces are trained,” Gantz says.

The defense minister makes his remarks at a swearing-in ceremony for the incoming head of the military’s court of appeals, its equivalent to a supreme court.

His comments come amid ongoing criticism of Kohavi for the military’s relatively limited punishments in response to a deadly friendly fire incident in the elite Egoz unit, which was found to have been the result of a troubling organizational culture in the outfit, as well as in response to the death of a 78-year-old Palestinian man who was tackled to the ground, bound with zip-ties, gagged, blindfolded, and then left at a construction site in the middle of the night in mid-January.

In his speech, Gantz refers to both of these incidents, as well as sexual assault cases within the military, as something that the IDF must reckon with.