Chief of staff: IDF well prepared for war
A day after the IDF ombudsman warns of a series of failures in the IDF apparatus that could come to the fore in the army's levels of readiness for a conflict, Lieutenant-General Eisenkot says, ‘We have made a significant step in securing the IDF’s preparedness for war.’
“I visit training sessions and see the operational activity proving that the IDF has high abilities and good preparedness, along with the duty to locate weaknesses and failures and work vigorously to fix them,” Eisenkot said Monday evening at a tribute to the reserve forces at the Knesset. “I am very proud of the command ranks, which has scored noteworthy achievements.
“As part of the five-year Gideon efficiency plan, we have made a significant step in securing the IDF’s preparedness for war. We have built an advanced service model implementing the government’s decision to shorten the service, develop the commanders and non-commissioned officers and utilize the human capital to the fullest.”
According to the IDF chief, “We are in the midst of a complicated period in terms of security, filled with challenges from the north and from the south, and we must remember that the IDF’s strength depends on people, spirit, equipment, skills and unity. We will keep reinforcing them through actions expressing their supreme importance, while showing respect for the dedication and loyalty of the reserve forces as a team serving the State of Israel.”
Eisenkot noted that “the reserve forces’ training and skills increased significantly in 2017. This year, we doubled the number of reserve forces participating in operational occupation, to allow the IDF’s tip of the spear forces to increase the training to 50 percent of their time.
“The IDF units on the ground, in the air and in the sea are operating around the clock and tested on a daily basis in thwarting terror in Judea and Samaria, in protecting the state’s borders in the south and in the north and in continuous offensive activity to thwart advanced abilities and reduce the threats to the state.”
The IDF ombudsman warned on Monday that a new gloomy annual report which he has produced points to a plethora of shortcomings in the military’s operational capabilities, casts doubt on its readiness for a conflict in the south and highlights the subpar standards in the quality among senior military staff.
General (res.) Yitzhak Brik published what will be his final annual report as IDF and Defense Ministry ombudsman having occupied the post for a decade.
“If I read you these reports, you would fall over,” Brik said of the report whose content is not made available to the public.
The report is rife with pessimistic conclusions and highlights a series of failures in the IDF apparatus that he says could come to the fore in the IDF’s levels of preparation during the next war.
According to Brik, concerning discrepancies exist between the public declarations and bravado about the IDF’s capabilities and the realities on the ground.
“There are documents that back up my claims and not only direct statements from senior officers and officers in the field,” he explained.
“There is a lack of regular military monitoring of military processes, disciplinary problems and a failure to fulfil orders. Take as an example the fact that two billion shekels were invested in emergency storage units after the Second Lebanon War, but the project was abandoned,” Brik said.
