Reports: Netanyahu speaks to IDF chief given concerns over military authority

26 December 2022, 7:40 pm 1 Edit

Then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi during an event for outstanding soldiers as part of Israel's 71st Independence Day celebrations, at the President's Residence in Jerusalem, May 9, 2019. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)

File: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi during an event for outstanding soldiers as part of Israel's 71st Independence Day celebrations, at the President's Residence in Jerusalem, May 9, 2019. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)

Incoming prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi amid serious concerns about coalition demands that touch on military authority, according to multiple Hebrew media reports.

The reports, which appear to be a coordinated leak to political reporters, claim that Kohavi initiated a conversation with Netanyahu over such concerns, which include the plan to provide Religious Zionism MK Bezalel Smotrich with authority over the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) agency, and a proposal to give the Chief Rabbinate control over selecting the IDF chief rabbi.

Kohavi, who will leave office on January 17, reportedly expressed “deep concern” about such activities harming the military.