Herzi Halevi, a philosopher at the helm of the Israel Defence Forces
"I don't think there is a war or a military operation that will solve the problem," Herzl Halevi reflected a decade ago as he toured the Golan Heights with his troops. The general was answering The New York Times' questions from near the border with Lebanon, which he defined as the greatest threat to the State of Israel because of Hezbollah's influence. For Halevi, the question was "how to create a longer gap between the wars". He understood that armed conflict was inevitable. Moreover, he understood that armed conflict was necessary. The goal, therefore, could not be other than to prolong periods of peace as long as possible.
The New York Times profile published in 2013 stated that Herzl Halevi, better known as Herzi Halevi, then commanding the Israeli army in the Galilee, was a leading candidate to one day head the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). He was said to be "smarter than most officers. Humble and as likely to talk about history, philosophy or the Bible as about fighting the enemy. Today, a decade later, the general has officially lived up to expectations by taking the army's top job.
Halevi was appointed Chief of Staff of the Israel Defence Forces on Monday, replacing Aviv Kochavi, the lieutenant general who has held the post for the past four years. He has become the 23rd military officer to head the IDF, the first born after the 1967 Six-Day War. He takes up the post in a context marked by an exponential increase in violence in the West Bank and tensions in Benjamin Netanyahu's sixth executive. The radical wing of the government, represented by the ultra-nationalist Religious Zionism coalition, is seeking to restructure military authority in the West Bank, a premise that is raising hackles in the military establishment.
Halevi's promotion came as no surprise. The general, who had previously served as deputy chief of the Israel Defence Forces, was chosen in September by then defence minister Benny Gantz. The military officer-turned-politician, who held the same post until 2015, judged Halevi to be the best of the three proposed candidates given his track record within the corps and military intelligence. The outgoing government of Yair Lapid gave the green light to the appointment 10 days before the 1 November elections, which certified Bibi's return to power. No one objected, with the exception of academic Talia Einhorn, a member of the committee charged with approving his nomination, who felt that the closeness of the elections jeopardised the candidate's integrity.
The nomination ceremony was held, following the usual script, in the prime minister's office. Netanyahu made it clear that Israel will continue to defend itself against its enemies. "In the face of these threats we must continue with our determination, as we have done in the last decade, even with Aviv [Kochavi] during his four-year term as chief of staff, and we will continue to do so," the embattled leader of the conservative Likud party said, referring to Iran and its related militias.
Kochavi warned in his speech about the executive's plans to reorganise military authority in the West Bank, known in Israel as Judea and Samaria. Halevi's predecessor was a wake-up call to Netanyahu, who has given Bezalel Smootrich, head of the Religious Zionism list, an office of his own within the Defence Ministry headed by Yoav Gallant. Smootrich, considered by those in uniform to be a jobnik, i.e. a person with no real combat experience, holds the finance portfolio, whose activities have nothing to do with it.
Kochavi said he had coordinated his position with Halevi. But the newly appointed army chief was less assertive than his predecessor. He did send a message to Israel's enemies: "We will prepare the IDF for possible wars, near and far. We will expand recruitment to all strata of the population and increase the army's reserves while maintaining a unity of mind, focused and free of any consideration other than security". "Our enemies must know that we will do everything in our power, that we are prepared to do much more," he insisted.
One of Halevi's goals is to keep the army "free of any consideration other than security". The current defence minister, who also spoke at the ceremony, pledged in his speech to guarantee the complete independence of the armed forces. "I will make sure that outside pressure - political, legal and otherwise - stops at me and does not reach the gates of the IDF," Gallant said in an off-the-record conversation, in which he sought to reassure army commanders that he did not intend to cede any of his prerogatives to Smootrich.
Halevi followed protocol and visited the Western Wall and met with President Isaac Herzog at his Jerusalem residence before travelling to Tel Aviv to officially receive the baton.
The 55-year-old general joined the Israel Defence Forces as a paratrooper, without planning ahead. He did so with conviction after completing his compulsory military service. He vowed then to maintain his commitment to the force "as long as it is important to the State of Israel, as long as I believe I am doing it in a good way and as long as it is interesting to me". Nearly four decades later, and having accumulated promotions and gone through the ranks, the commitment still stands.
It is known that his refusal to carry out the operation to capture Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat at his headquarters in Ramallah in 2002 was decisive in its suspension. He warned that the action could harm or kill the late Palestinian leader and cause a diplomatic catastrophe. In the New York Times article cited above, his colleagues accused Halevi of being "too political". He was, according to their version, too involved in knowing the appointments, in lurking close to the decision-making. His alleged ambition, however, did not lead him to accept an offer to become Netanyahu's military attaché in 2012. He gave pumpkins to the current prime minister.
"He is admired as a creative thinker and loved for attending annual memorial events for fallen soldiers. Yet he is seen by some as aloof, square or self-righteous, with a quiet leadership style that can turn off young recruits," the New York daily wrote of him. A graduate in business administration and philosophy from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and educated at the prestigious US National Defense University in Washington, Halevi is a triathlete and father of four. He is religious, still attends synagogue on Saturdays, but does not wear a kippah. He lives with his family in the settlement of Kfar HaOranim, which straddles the West Bank border near the town of Modiin. He has the problem at home.
