IDF chief tells Knesset committee he couldn’t quit immediately after Oct. 7; army can resume fighting despite deal

Outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi has defended his decision to stay in his role after the failure to prevent Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre, instead announcing only recently that he will step down in March, according to leaked comments he made today at the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

According to Hebrew media, Halevi says that had he stepped down immediately, “this would have damaged the war effort — the military had to be led.”

Halevi also contends that the government made the right decision in approving the current ceasefire and hostage deal, even though it includes “painful” concessions.

Hinting at a potential resumption of the fighting, Halevi says: “We will make an effort for the price to be small, and we will know how to resume fighting with power and by way of deception.”

Referring to a law bill to regulate the issue of Haredi enlistment to the IDF, Halevi says that while he’s in contact with ultra-Orthodox leaders over the matter, he believes any law must include sanctions on draft dodgers since more friendly approaches over the years “led to very low enlistment rates.”

He says that this year, the military can recruit 4,800 Haredim, while next year that number will grow by 20%, and in 2027 “we will be able to absorb everybody.” Haredi leaders are demanding much smaller numbers, with the rest exempted, and without sanctions on evaders.

Halevi casts enlistment of ultra-Orthodox men as “a distinct security need,” adding that the IDF is short 10,000 soldiers — many of them combat troops — due to the “price of the war.”

Speaking of the army’s internal probes of the failures that enabled the Oct. 7 attack, Halevi says these were initiated early in the war in order to learn from the mistakes, “while fighting on seven fronts, and without making mistakes or cutting corners, even if it takes two extra weeks.”