Polisuk in the Ministry of Defense

The legendary theater actor Sasson Gabai, who played the fictional character of Minister Meir Polisuk, could not have imagined how the sitcom starring him would become an inconceivable reality of governance culture in Israel. In a recent interview with "7 Nights", Gabai pointed to the phenomenon: compared to the functioning of government ministers, the foolish and clumsy Minister Polisuk now seems like a responsible adult and the embodiment of statesmanship. The character born to ridicule the ineptitude of the government is revealed over the years as a horizon of humanity and basic integrity in the face of lost norms.

Among the line of ministers challenged in their roles, Defense Minister Israel Katz most likely earns a spot on the podium in the parade of folly of the outgoing government. His tenure on the 14th floor of the Kirya will be remembered as one of the greatest farces in the history of the position, as a minister who is systematically busy sacrificing security interests on the altar of the murky primaries of the ruling party, which Kahanism took over long ago. It often seems that the minister measures his performance in the Ministry of Defense by the depth of the trolling, the lack of backing, and the damage to the basic tenets of managing the largest and most sensitive government system — the security system. This is not just about first-class dysfunction on his part, but about intentional damage to the delicate fabric of relations between the political and military echelons and to the role and purpose of the Minister of Defense, in its deepest sense.

The examples of this are horrifying and countless, but it seems that the affair of his "dismissal" without authority — and on live broadcast! — of the Central Command commander exceeds even the imagination of the talented scriptwriters for the series "Polisuk". The chain of failures in Israel Katz's conduct amounts to a comedy that has turned into a tragedy of errors at our expense. But among all the moves that indicate that the meeting between the minister's chair and Mr. Katz is purely coincidental, three events stand out in particular:

1. His voice was not heard and he was not present in discussions with Washington (as testified by senior administration officials) on the eve of the fiasco in Iran, which testifies to how much the man is present-absent in his role and does not influence at the strategic level, but is busy spreading threats over the airwaves in the style of Don Corleone. A level-headed Minister of Defense would have challenged the wishes generously spread in the channel between the Prime Minister and the Mossad regarding regime change.

2. The status of the Political-Security Division in the Ministry of Defense was downgraded, as recently testified by the outgoing head of the division, Brigadier General (res.) Dror Shalom. As a result, security diplomacy, which is a fundamental component of the national security concept, lost value, and its negative results can be seen in many arenas, including the deterioration of our international status.

3. Israel Katz's systematic friction with international law and the laws of war. Beyond his problematic conduct regarding the terror challenge in the West Bank and granting permission for extremist violence, his statement regarding the flattening of 24 villages in Lebanon, "with or without appropriate legal authorization," stands out.

Israel after October 7th needs a Minister of Defense with a solid backbone and full-time, who fulfills his mission to fortify Israel's security. Four more years of Israel Katz and his ilk at the helm of power is a privilege that the public and the army cannot afford. We have wasted our security margins and so too the international credit that was given with a generous hand and was quickly extinguished by the outgoing government. The one-time opportunity to get back on track is approaching. We must not miss the magnitude of the hour.