The general leading the Israeli counteroffensive in Gaza is Herzi Halevi. The government has been warning for some time that the internal rift sparked by Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial reforms risked encouraging Israel’s enemies – led by Hezbollah and Hamas – to attack the Jewish state. But on Saturday the Gaza border was unguarded and Israel suffered its worst military defeat in 50 years. General Halevi’s name will forever be associated in Israel with this traumatic event and the over a thousand military and civilian deaths. Halevi was born in 1967, shortly after the Six-Day War, and inherited the name of a relative who died in combat. His grandfather served in the Jewish secret group Irgun, which fought against the British mandate in Palestine. On his mother’s side he is connected to an influential rabbinical dynasty. Raised among paratroopers, he then commanded the elite Sayeret Matcal unit: always on the front line and even beyond, in the most ruthless missions. After heading military intelligence, he took command of the southern military zone in 2018.
Therefore one of the best experts on Gaza. He has been chief of staff since January. Halevi is a thoughtful person and speaks with a soft voice. He also has a degree in philosophy, which gives his speeches an intellectual touch. Living with the Netanyahu government was not easy. As protests against government pressure on the judiciary grew in Israel, air force reservists threatened to stop reporting to their units. Halevy took a cautious approach to them and was accused by the far right of not having enough of a pulse or even of secretly sympathizing with the protest. In July, Halevi tried to persuade Netanyahu to seek agreements with the opposition, including to restore cohesion in the armed forces. Furthermore, in his opinion, Israel’s enemies interpreted Israel’s internal fighting as a moment of record weakness that they could and should exploit. For these words, the general was later heavily attacked by Canale 14, a right-wing extremist broadcaster.
Despite military leaders’ general analysis, intelligence failed to sense Hamas’ plans and in September battalions from the south were deployed to the seething West Bank. The responsibility for opening this gap now lies with General Halevi, the commander of the southern military zone, General Yaron Finkelman, the intelligence chief Aharon Haliwa and the head of the Shin Bet Ronen Bar. In January he said in the investiture speech: Halevi had General David “Dado “ Pays homage to Elazar, the chief of staff who was torpedoed after the Yom Kippur War, although he had coldly and successfully led the campaign that began in disastrous circumstances with a surprise attack by the armies of Egypt and Syria. “Dado did not choose the time and yet he emerged victorious from this test,” Halevi said. According to many analysts, the general now faces a similar fate. “I know there are a lot of questions and frustration,” he said on television after the Hamas raid. “But today it is important to move forward, it is war time.”
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