Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich met this evening (Monday) with the Chief of Staff, Major General Herzi Halevi in the Knesset corridor, after News 13 reported that Smotrich refused to participate in a meeting convened by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with Defense Minister Yoav Galant and the Chief of Staff to To discuss the issue of his powers as Minister of the Ministry of Defense due to the participation of the Chief of Staff.
Chief of Staff to Smotrich: “My advantage is that I don’t see media”
In the documentation published after the report, Chief of Staff Hertzi Halevi is seen talking to Minister Smotrich in the Knesset corridors and telling him that “my advantage is that I don’t see media”, in response to the report that the chairman of religious Zionism refused to participate in a meeting with him and the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense.
In response to News 13’s report, Smotrich’s office stated that “Minister Smotrich is very careful not to involve the army in politics. The powers will be settled tonight between Minister Smotrich and the Prime Minister and Minister Galant. Minister Smotrich and the Chief of Staff have met several times in recent weeks and there is an open dialogue and excellent among them. Now, the Chief of Staff is bringing his professional position to the Prime Minister and it is good that this is so, immediately after that there will be a political meeting where the matter will be decided.”
Hertz HaLevi at the Western Wall | Photo: IDF spokesman
Galant in a message to Smotrich: “The Chief of Staff is subordinate to the Minister of Defense”
We will recall that last month, at the exchange ceremony of the chief of staff, Defense Minister Yoav Galant spoke and congratulated Halevi in honor of his assumption of office. Among those sitting at the exchange ceremony, Bezalel Smotrich, the minister of finance and the minister at the Ministry of Defense, also sat and hinted that the chief of staff would be subordinate to the minister of defense only.
Gallant and Smotrich | Photo: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90
“Between authority and responsibility in the military system there is one fundamental concept: unity of command. Each soldier and officer has one commander, and above all the Chief of Staff, the highest command level in the army, subordinate to the Minister of Defense and subject to the government. By virtue of my position and as required by law, I will act so that the Chief of Staff Major General Herzi Halevi will be able to fulfill his responsibilities. In the meantime, I will make sure that external pressures – political, legal and others – stop at me and do not reach the gates of the IDF,” Galant said