IDF chief says military committed to keeping out politics, amid judicial overhaul tensions

Speaking at an IDF officers’ graduation ceremony, military chief Herzi Halevi comments on the ongoing political discourse in Israel over the government’s radical plans to overhaul the judicial system.

“These days, controversy is shaking Israeli society. The IDF is a unique meeting point of the army and society, and therefore the controversy also affects its servicepeople,” Halevi says.

“IDF soldiers and officers do not serve in distant countries. They protect the home, near the home. They go back and forth from home, and the discussion at home is lively,” he continues.

“Just as we knew how to preserve this uniqueness throughout the years of the IDF’s existence as the people’s army, we know how to do it today as well,” Halevi vows.

Halevi says despite the political climate, the IDF’s mission remains clear, “protecting the state and maintaining the security of its citizens.”

“The servicepeople in the IDF are subject to the law and the army protocols and act according to the IDF spirit and values,” he says.

Halevi says the IDF will be attentive to soldiers discussing the political dispute, “not in order to take sides, but to leave it out and keep the IDF one and united around its complex tasks.”