At Term’s End Herzi Halevi Forgot Nothing, Learned Nothing

Photo Credit: Chaim Goldberg / FLASH90

IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi is about to retire.

French diplomat and statesman Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand (1754–1838) said about the House of Bourbon, whose kings were separated from their heads by the revolution, only to return on the bayonets of the reactionary European powers, that King Louis XVIII had “learnt nothing and forgotten nothing.”

The investigations presented to the public by the IDF on Thursday were delayed by the outgoing Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, who ensured they were all released simultaneously, making it challenging for the public to examine them in detail. He also made sure to deliver a copy to everyone and his aunt in Hadera, except to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

It was a stunning case of learning nothing, good enough to earn Halevi the French Foreign Legion Decoration (he just received the Legion of Merit medal from C.Q. Brown, commander of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, minutes before Trump fired Brown).

The most crucial failure pointed out by the IDF’s internal investigation was the failure of Halevi and key security establishment chiefs to alert Netanyahu regarding the warning signs of a Hamas invasion on October 6, 2023, the day before the catastrophe. And Halevi made sure on Thursday not to alert Netanyahu about the revelation that he didn’t alert Netanyahu.

According to Ynet, in closed conversations this week, Chief of Staff Halevi, who goes home next week as the worst chief of staff in IDF history, was heard saying the following:

“You need courage to fight on the battlefield. But first, you need integrity and simple truth to sit in a circle after the battle alongside your friends who were there and fought by your side. No matter the outcome of the battle, you must be willing to present where I was wrong, and where I missed. This is the essence of the IDF. Only in this way can any military framework rise up—after a defeat or a victory—and go out again for the next battle.”

No, Herzi, a thousand times no. Your courage and integrity should get you to confess your staggering failures, never mind apologize, to the head of the elected government, elected by the people you caused to perish in the thousands with your reckless hubris. And you failed to do it, a second time.

Halevi multiplied his sins by not heeding warnings regarding the identities of the investigators. The State Comptroller warned him – but Halevi banned the Comptroller from interrogating IDF officers and soldiers. The less criminally biased media also warned him (while most mainstream media cheered instead of challenged him). In the end, an intolerable situation was created of a friend interrogating a friend, and worse, an underling interrogating his boss.

Come to think of it, “intolerable” may be too mild an adjective, but this is a family newspaper.

Meanwhile, the Shin Bet has yet to even interrogate itself, when its chief Ronen Bar was not only part of the October 6 conspiracy to keep the PM out of the loop, he was also part of the alleged conspiracies to torpedo Netanyahu’s military initiatives, most prominently the leak of the planned explosive beepers operation. It’s the stuff of treason trials, possibly terminating in a gallows scene on live TV.

Regarding the events of October 7, the IDF’s self-investigation confirms that additional actions could have been taken that might have at least reduced the damage caused by the Hamas invasion. The army was unprepared because it relied on the assumption that some “tool” would provide critical warning. In the nighttime situation assessment, the Chief of Staff and the Southern Command Commander decided not to raise the alert to avoid exposing this vital “tool.” The investigation clearly states that actions could have been taken that wouldn’t have endangered sources. However, the Chief of Staff did not even require the head of the Intelligence Directorate––on vacation in Eilat, or the head of the research division to be involved in the conversation.

Halevi reportedly told his close circle of friends this week: “If we don’t investigate and don’t get to the root of the problem, we won’t expose the faults and failures to the light of day. We won’t bring about healing. We will, with our own hands, commit a criminal act against the future of our children and future generations.”

And he proceeded to be investigated by officers who depended on him for their advancement, which brought about not a healing but endless defensive moves to save his sullied reputation. He already committed a criminal act against our children. His next enlightened speech should come before a real commission of inquiry.