Blot's Dismissal on Live TV Also Harms Major General Bar-Kalifa

The statement by the Minister of Defense regarding the GOC Central Command on a live broadcast on Channel 14 is an unprecedented event. As when observing a serious accident, there is no escaping the thought of whether it would have been possible to go back, to stop for a moment before everything shattered.

In one moment, grave mistakes were made. First and foremost, the essential trust that must exist regarding the state-oriented judgment of the Minister of Defense as an elected political official in determining senior appointments in the IDF was damaged.

God forbid that the impression should be created that decisions are made out of narrow political considerations. It is true that the discussion between the Minister of Defense and the Chief of Staff regarding the future appointment of Major General Bar-Kalifa was conducted according to the correct procedure, in a professional discussion with the appropriate discretion. However, the way the intention to appoint Bar-Kalifa was presented in the heat of a studio discussion before a fired-up audience harmed Major General Bar-Kalifa no less than the incumbent GOC Central Command, Avi Blot.

Regarding the substance of the dispute that opened up between Major General Blot and the Minister of Defense, a look is required through the value of statehood as established by the first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion. The complex challenge that the Central Command faces in its efforts to prevent acts of terror by groups of Jewish rioters in the areas of Judea and Samaria is a national state challenge of the highest order.

This is exactly what Ben-Gurion aimed for in the expectation from the professional echelon of public servants: loyalty to the supreme vision of the State of Israel. The damage caused by the rioter groups to the State of Israel and the settlement enterprise is nothing less than a national disaster. The GOC Central Command, Avi Blot, is exposed in his confrontation with this challenge to arrows of criticism from both camps.

On one hand, sharp criticism is leveled at him by former major generals who blame him for cooperating with elements in the political echelon. On the other hand, radical elements on the right accuse him of a "leftist" persecution of the "young pioneers."

In this complicated place, a GOC needs much more than backing from the political echelon. He needs, above all, assistance in everything that only a political echelon can assist with, such as granting the essential tools for effective struggle, such as administrative detention.

IDF commanders deserve from the political echelon in charge of them an attitude of respect. The late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin demanded more than that; he spoke of "joint responsibility" that must exist between the senior military echelon and the political echelon.

One cannot ignore the danger of the trend of criticism, reaching the point of delegitimization, carried out by elements on the right against the senior military echelon. As if the "generation of victory" are the fighters and junior commanders who brought the achievements on the battlefields, while the senior echelon supposedly remained bound by the shackles of the concept that led to October 7.

This is a manipulative and false trend. Regarding the Central Command sector, for example, critics are invited to take a focused look at the achievements of Major General Avi Blot and the Judea and Samaria Division in managing the fight against terror in the areas of Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley.

The systematic confrontation in neutralizing terror strongholds in the refugee camps of Jenin, Nur Shams, and Tulkarm is unprecedented. Nothing like it has been done since the refugee camps were founded at the end of the War of Independence. For everyone traveling on the roads of Judea and Samaria in recent months, the improving security situation in the area is personally familiar. This is also attested to by the heads of the councils in Judea and Samaria, such as Yossi Dagan, who issued a statement in support of Major General Blot.

In this complicated place, it only remains to strengthen the Chief of Staff and the IDF commanders, who will know how to overcome this crisis as well with statehood and firm loyalty to the vision of the State of Israel.