Lt. Gen Herzi Halevi, chief of Israel’s military, announces his resignation, while taking responsibility for the IDF’s failures on and before October 7, 2023.

By JNS

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi has informed Defense Minister Israel Katz that he will be resigning as of March, Hebrew media reported on Tuesday.

Halevi, who succeeded Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi in January 2023, said his decision to step down stemmed from his “responsibility for the IDF’s failure” during the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border massacre, in which Gaza terrorists killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.

“At this juncture, when the IDF has recorded significant achievements and is in the process of implementing a deal to release the hostages, I request to end my position on March 6, 2025,” Halevi wrote to Katz.

The chief of staff vowed in the letter to transfer his command of the military “in a qualitative and thorough manner” to his successor.

With his resignation, Halevi will become the third-shortest-serving permanent IDF chief of staff after Dan Halutz, who stepped down from the role after some 20 months following the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war.

Israel’s Kan News public broadcaster noted that Halevi requested to Katz that he conclude his position after the first 42-day phase of the current hostage deal with Hamas is expected to end on March 1.

Hamas’s Oct. 7 assault—the deadliest single-day attack in the Jewish state’s history and the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust—led to a multi-front war against Iran’s proxies and militant allies in the region.

The military’s intelligence lapses prior to the terror attack, as well as its failure to swiftly repel the mass infiltration from Gaza, has prompted a flurry of resignations in the IDF, including by top officials.

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Hezbollah-affiliated news outlet publishes video of Chief of Staff, Northern District Commander touring border, seemingly unware that they were being filmed.

By Adina Katz, World Israel News

Operatives from the Lebanon-based Hezbollah terror group filmed senior members of the Israeli military, with senior IDF officials seemingly unaware that they were under surveillance.

The Hezbollah-affiliated Al Manar media network recently published a 30-second-long video of the Israeli military’s Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi, and Northern District Commander Ori Gordin touring the border.

During the clip, the camera zooms in on Halevi and Gordin, suggesting that the terror operative filming the video was aware of the identity of the two men.

The pair were accompanied by dozens of soldiers as they walked along the Israeli side of the Blue Line, which serves as the de facto border with Lebanon.

Security Cabinet News, a military-focused Telegram channel, said that the clip demonstrates that the significant military figures were likely within Hezbollah’s firing range.

“This could have been a very, very deadly opening salvo” for a war between the Israeli military and Lebanon, the channel noted.

Tensions along the northern border have spiked in recent weeks, with Hezbollah setting up an illegal encampment on the Israeli side of the Blue Line.

Despite UNIFIL, the UN’s peacekeeping body, acknowledging that the encampment violates Israeli sovereignty, the body has dragged its feet on forcing the terror group to clear out. Israeli officials have warned that should Hezbollah not fully evacuate the area, they will use military means to ensure the area is free of terror assets.

After a heated back-and-forth, including a Lebanese MP daring Israel to “declare war or shut up,” Hezbollah removed one of the tents.

Earlier this week, Hezbollah terrorists stole a surveillance camera on the northern border. The IDF did not disover the theft until hours later, according to a Ynet report.

Last weekend, a member of the Lebanese parliament accompanied by local journalists walked 50 meters into Israeli territory. After ignoring repeated warnings to retreat to Lebanon, IDF soldiers fired warning shots and smoke grenades at the group.

Nobody was injured in the incident.

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The attacks by Israelis “contradict every moral and Jewish value and are nationalist terrorism in the full sense of the term.”

By World Israel News Staff

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (Likud), IDF chief, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, Shin Bet head Ronen Bar, and Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai on Saturday slammed the recent retaliatory attacks by Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria against Palestinians.

Halevi, Bar, and Shabtai in a joint statement on Saturday said the attacks, which were carried out in response to a spate of deadly terror shootings, constituted “nationalist terrorism in the full sense of the term.”

Meanwhile Gallant issued a condemnation of the attacks on Palestinian residents of Umm Safa.

“I strongly condemn the violence perpetrated against residents of the village of Umm Safa, including the burning of houses and vehicles,” he wrote on Twitter.

“This is not our way,” Gallant said.

He added that he has given IDF troops stationed in the area orders “to prevent acts of violence perpetrated by civilians.”

Shmuel Meidad, CEO of Honenu legal aid group, criticized the defense chiefs for their remarks.

“Police Commissioner, IDF Chief of Staff, and Israel Security Agency chief – you failed,” he said. “You are turning the victims into attackers. Your statements now are trying to cover up your failure in the war against the Arab terror which is murdering us.”

In their joint statement, the three officials wrote that the attacks “contradict every moral and Jewish value.” They also claimed that it has the adverse effect of “increasing Palestinian terrorism” as well as the “international legitimacy of Israel’s security forces to fight Palestinian terrorism.”

“It also diverts the security forces from their main mission of operating against Palestinian terrorism,” they wrote.

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Cabinet approves Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s recommendation of Major General Herzi Halevi as IDF’s new chief of staff.

By World Israel News Staff

The Israeli government on Sunday voted to appoint Major General Herzi Halevi as the new IDF chief of staff, replacing outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi.

Halevi, 54, will formally replace Kochavi on January 17^th, becoming the 23^rd chief of staff of the Israeli military.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz nominated Halevi for the position prior to the Cabinet’s ratification Sunday.

“Today, we are submitting for Cabinet approval Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s proposal to appoint Maj.-Gen. Herzi Halevi as the 23rd IDF Chief-of-Staff,” Prime Minister Yair Lapid said at Sunday’s Cabinet meeting.

“The challenges that the IDF faces on a daily basis are varied and complex, starting with Operation Breaking the Waves in which the IDF fought against terrorism in Jenin and Nablus, to the continuing fight against the Iranian nuclear program and the spread of Iranian terrorism throughout the Middle East.”

“While we are succeeding on all these fronts, the fight will never cease. We cannot let our guard down. The main challenge has not changed: Our enemies do not want the State of Israel to exist and at any given moment we must be stronger, more sophisticated and more determined than them.”

“We also need to be different from them: To maintain a moral army, to uphold democratic values, to see to it that whoever raises their hand to an IDF soldier or commander is punished to the fullest extent of the law. This is an affront to our most basic values and to their ability to defend the country. We have a different army, a people’s army. We will not allow the existence of armed criminal militias in the State of Israel.”

A native of Jerusalem, Halevi was named after his uncle, Herzl Halevi, who was killed during the battle for the city during the Six Day War, just months before the younger Halevi was born.

Halevi has previously served as commander of the IDF General Staff Reconnaissance Unit, the Paratroopers Brigade, Head of Southern Command, and as Head of the IDF’s Intelligence Directorate.

He is currently serving as the IDF’s Deputy Chief-of-Staff.

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Gantz “came to the decision that Halevi is the most suitable officer” for the position, the Ministry of Defense stated. 

By Aryeh Savir, TPS

Major General Herzl (Herzi) Halevi will serve as the IDF’s 23rd Chief of Staff, replacing Aviv Kochavi at the end of the year, Minister of Defense Benny Gantz announced Sunday.

During the coming week, Gantz will forward Halevi’s name to the advisory committee for appointments to senior positions in the civil service headed by Supreme Court judge (ret.) Manny Mazuz and, subject to its approval, bring the appointment to the government’s approval.

Gantz announced his decision to Prime Minister Yair Lapid and current Chief of Staff Major General Kochavi.

Gantz chose Halevi “following a thorough assessment process conducted over the period of several months,” which included consultation with many senior officials, including former prime ministers, defense ministers, and chiefs of staff in the past, as well as the current Chief of Staff.

Major General Eyal Zamir was the other final candidate.

Gantz “came to the decision that Halevi is the most suitable officer in terms of the rich operational experience he has in a variety of arenas of action, as well as in terms of his command abilities and his approach to various military issues, which he has proven throughout his years of service in the field and at headquarters,” the Ministry of Defense stated.

Gantz also spoke with Zamir and told him that he “considers him an excellent, worthy and quality candidate for the position of Chief of Staff as well as for other senior positions in the defense establishment, and he thanked him for his respectful approach and his great contribution to Israel’s security in his decades of service so far.”

Halevi previously served as commander of the Southern Command, chief of the Military Intelligence Directorate, commander of the 91st Division, commander of the Paratroopers Brigade, and commander of the elite Sayeret Matkal.

Halevi studied in the Himelfarb religious high school in Jerusalem and was a member of the religious scouts. He is the first Orthodox Jew to serve as chief of staff.

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Several senior commanders were forced into quarantine along with thousands of soldiers as the army fights to maintain routine.

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

Several senior IDF commanders were forced into mandatory quarantine after being exposed to an army officer who later tested positive for the coronavirus, Channel 20 News reported Sunday.

Maj. Gen. Herzi Halevi, head of the Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yoel Strick, commander of the ground forces, and other senior officers from the Southern Command were close to an an IDF officer last week who is now sick with the virus. The officers will follow Health Ministry guidelines and isolate themselves, although they will continue to maintain as regular a schedule as possible, the report said. All are feeling well and reporting no symptoms.

The IDF Southern Command is responsible for the protection of 250 kilometers of Israel’s eastern border with Jordan, about 215 kilometers of the western border with Egypt and the 65 kilometer-border with the Gaza Strip.

It’s not the first time top generals have been forced to sleep and work from their offices. IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi himself went through quarantine after coming into contact with infected people early in the pandemic, staying in his office the entire time in order to continue working and setting a precedent for other officers.

The military has played a major role in helping the country get through the pandemic, providing manpower for the current vaccination program, distributing aid to hard-hit cities during lockdowns, and helping to run coronavirus test centers across the country.

The army has made changes to ensure training continues during the pandemic. Of the almost 70,000 Israelis currently infected with the virus, the IDF on Sunday reported, 2,377 soldiers and military employees are sick with mild symptoms and two soldiers are listed in moderate condition, with another 10,164 currently in quarantine after being exposed to someone infected.

There have been several serious outbreaks in the past week at bases around the country, which in one case forced the shutdown of an entire combat battalion, Channel 12 reported. At the same time, the military’s vaccination program has inoculated 114,000 soldiers of the roughly 170,000 active personnel; 26,000 have already received the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine.

One of the outbreaks was at the Paratroopers Brigade training base in Shomria, in southern Israel, where 54 soldiers were infected. Platoons of soldiers have been separated into small “capsules” to limit the spread. Those who test positive are transported to separate IDF recovery facilities, with other soldiers sent home to isolate before returning to duty.

Along the Gaza border another outbreak hit about 30 soldiers who specialize in surveillance, but to prevent any interruption in operational readiness, the IDF called up experienced reservists to fill their positions.

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Head of IDF’s southern command refused entry to Israel Air Force base when two of his soldiers fail to produce proper ID.

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

The head of the IDF southern command, General Herzi Halevi, was refused entry on Wednesday to an air base where a helicopter was waiting for him after a soldier guarding the gate to the base stuck to procedure when two of the soldiers accompanying the general failed to produce their ID.

Halevi, his driver and two senior officers on his staff arrived at the Hatzerim Air Force base in southern Israel to be flown by chopper to a military exercise in the Golan Heights, Channel 12 News reported. Instead, they were confronted by the base emergency response combat team.

As the helicopter waited for Halevi, the general and his driver showed their ID, but the other two officers reportedly did not have their army IDs on them.

The soldier on guard followed procedure and refused to allow them into the highly guarded base, and when the general finally did get in he and his men were confronted by the base’s rapid response team who had been alerted by the soldier on guard to a possible infiltration of the base.

Apparently, a phone call by the officer on duty did not help and it took additional time to defuse the situation and confirm the identities of the two officers with Halevi.

“The entry of the commander of the Southern Command into the Hatzerim base on his way to a flight for an exercise in the Golan Heights was coordinated and approved in advance,” the IDF Spokesperson’s office said in a statement, noting that although Halevi properly identified himself “there were other officers in the vehicle with him, some of whom did not carry ID cards.”

“Last night, the commander of the Hatzerim base presented the investigation … and the necessary lessons were learned,” the IDF statement concluded.

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Addressing the many regional threats Israel faces, Brig. General Herzl Halevi stressed that Iran was the driving force behind multiple forms of terrorism in Israel, Gaza and Syria.

By: Aryeh Savir, World Isrel News

Iran is one of the driving forces behind the wave of almost daily Palestinian terrorist attacks and is funding it, Israel’s military intelligence chief said on Sunday.

Addressing the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in Jerusalem,  Brig. General Herzl Halevi, chief of the IDF’s Intelligence Directorate, said that “in past months we see that Iran is willing to give money to families of terrorists who have stabbed Israelis,” providing them with financial incentive to carry out these mostly suicidal attacks. The funds, sometimes in the form of monthly stipends, are provided to the families of the terrorists.

Addressing the threat posed by Palestinian terrorist organizations in Gaza, Halevi said that Israel is trying to rebuild Gaza after the destruction it incurred during Operation Protective Edge, “because we understand that they have to have what to lose” if they attack Israel again.

Israel allows the entry of some 900 trucks a day carrying building materials, even though Israel knows that some of the materials are stolen by Hamas and used to build their terror tunnels and military fortifications, he said.

Another threat Halevi spoke about was what he termed as “silent terror,” the terrorism imported by migrants from the Middle East into Europe. Pointing to the fact that refuges, primarily from Syria, have irrevocably changed the face of Europe, he expressed fears that a similar scenario could unfold in Israel. “We see tens of thousands of people from Gaza and Judea and Samaria who can get organized one morning and march” on Israel.

He estimated that Iran will abide by the nuclear agreement in the coming years, but said that it is the belief among the intelligence community that the P5+1 powers lead by President Barack Obama could have achieved a better deal.

Finally, the intelligence chief doubted the ability of international mediators to bring calm to Syria through a cease fire. He said the best possible scenario Syria can hope for at this time is a limited period of calm at specific areas, but he does not believe a final peace agreement in on the horizon.

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