Smotrich says internal army investigations into Oct. 7 ‘are a grave mistake’
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich dismisses the army’s internal investigation into its handling of the fighting at Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, arguing that such probes “are a grave mistake by the chief of staff.”
“The Israel Defense Forces and those at its head should be concerned with only one thing and that is to win the war,” the far-right minister tells reporters ahead of his Religious Zionism party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset.
“The Israel Defense Forces and those at its head should be concerned with only one thing and that is to win the war and defeat Hamas in the south, Hezbollah in the north, and return the hostages,” he insists, arguing that a leadership which failed cannot investigate itself.
“These investigations are rightly met with complete distrust within the army as well as outside it,” he continues, stating that only a new military leadership will be able to extract lessons from what happened on October 7.
Reacting to the results of the army’s probe last week, Kibbutz Be’eri said that it was not enough to restore their trust in the army and called for a state commission of inquiry to be opened.
