From the Liveblog of
Friday, February 7, 2025
Katz orders IDF intelligence chief to be reprimanded for warning of risks related to discussion of Trump’s Gaza plan
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
Defense Minister Israel Katz has ordered IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi to reprimand the head of the Military Intelligence Directorate, after a TV report cited Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder warning about potential repercussions relating to US President Donald Trump’s plans to take over the Gaza Strip.
Last night, Channel 13 news reported that during an assessment on Trump’s plans to move Gazans out of the Strip for it to be rebuilt, Binder warned of potential enemy violence, including an escalation in the West Bank, resulting from discussion of Trump’s plan. According to the report, he warned specifically about the upcoming holy Muslim month of Ramadan, which tends to be a volatile time of year.
The report noted that Binder did not express anything against Trump’s plans, rather only warned about the potential consequences of the current discourse surrounding it.
“There will be no reality in which IDF officers will speak out against US President Trump’s important plan regarding Gaza, and against the directives of the political echelon,” Katz says in a statement, despite the Channel 13 report saying that Binder expressed no criticism of the plan.
“I ordered the IDF to prepare to advance the plan for the voluntary departure of Gaza residents who would be interested in leaving to various places in the world, and that is exactly what the IDF is required to do and will do,” the defense minister adds.
Katz has repeatedly been clashing with the IDF, especially outgoing chief Halevi, in recent weeks.
