Israel: senior officer slams plan to modernise army

A senior Israeli army officer has criticised the plan of outgoing Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi to transform the Israeli armed forces into a “deadly, effective and innovative army”, Kiba website has reported. The plan, claimed the anonymous officer, “Will lead to severe damage to the ground forces, as well as the number of troops and army reserves.” The officer claimed that Israel currently has a minimum number of troops in the face of more complex threats than those faced in earlier years.

“We achieve goals in Syria, but in Lebanon they quietly establish factories and continue to manufacture precision and long-range missiles, and we do not respond,” he said. “When the Lebanese Hezbollah possesses high precision missiles, the war will have a different outcome. It is important to increase the number of army reserves because it is an illusion to believe that the war will end in a quick victory.”

He pointed out that tens of thousands of reservists have been demobilised, and brigades have been cut in size. “Even spare parts are an issue.” Israel, he indicated, has transferred the entire army budget to fund advanced technologies instead of maintaining its tanks.

Last month, the Israeli media reported the high rate of young officers and soldiers shortening their army service, which is a “strategic threat” to the Israeli army that is “rarely” discussed. “The army has turned into a high-tech company,” said the officer.

According to Kochavi’s plan, he explained, the Israeli army is supposed to become effective and innovative, possessing an offensive capability and innovation in production and development designed to meet future challenges. “All of this will be at the expense of the ground army, which in the end is the decisive factor on the battlefield.”

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He went on to criticise Kochavi’s decision during the 2021 Operation Guardian of the Walls not to use ground forces to eliminate Palestinian resistance fighters inside the tunnels. “We planned to kill hundreds, and it could have been a strategic victory, but we decided not to send the troops in for fear of endangering them.”

Responding to the officer’s statements, Major General (Reserve) and former army Ombudsman Yitzhak Brick admitted that for years, the army spokesperson has been throwing dust in the public’s eyes. “I am speaking with serving senior officers, division commanders and colonels,” said Brick. “The situation today in the ground army is tragic; it is not ready for war. The emergency stores are not ready, the exercises have been stopped, and the battalions have not trained for years. There is also no training and education on weapons, and the army is unable to carry out any attack.”

The former ombudsman added that technology alone is not enough to win wars. “The truth is that an imaginary reality was created by the supreme command and through the army’s spokesperson. Moreover, in recent years, soldiers have lost motivation and fighting spirit; many are not ready to go into combat.”