Lawyers running IDF? Israel’s attorney general, chief of staff deny it

Attorney General and Chief of Staff defend IDF from charges that lawyers interfere with operations.

By World Israel News Staff

Israel’s Attorney General and the IDF Chief of Staff defended the Army against comments Jewish Home Party Chairman Naftali Bennett made Monday that “the soldiers are more afraid of the judge advocate general than Sinwar,” referring to Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s political leader in the Gaza Strip.

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit said, “Compliance with the provisions of the law, even during combat, is the source of the IDF’s strength, its commanders and its soldiers.”

Mandelblit, who noted that he served for seven years as head of the Military Advocate General Corps., said “The officers of the Army attorney’s office works shoulder to shoulder together with the commanders, for the joined purpose of achieving fighting goals.”

Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot echoed the attorney general’s words, saying, “The Military Advocate General is part of the IDF’s strength and helps shoulder to shoulder with the commanders and soldiers to realize its operational mission and win in war.”

Mandelblit added that the head of the Military Advocate General’s office, General Sharon Afek works tirelessly on behalf of the Army to give it the legal mantle it requires to defeat it enemies, according to the law. Mandelblit called Afek’s work “an inseparable part of the national strength of the State of Israel.”

Education Minister Bennett said the Military Advocate General, makes IDF soldiers jump through legal hoop after legal hoop. “From defeating the enemy we’ve become the enemy. Things that were obvious once have become covered in doubt,” he said.