Brig. Gen. (res.) Amir Aviivi, who recently stepped down after six and a half years as chairman of the “Bithonistim” movement, suggested in an interview with 103FM that he is heading into politics. “Right now I’m first of all breathing. In a month or two you will all know,” he said.
Aviivi also criticized former IDF Chief of Staff and Yeshar Party chairman Gadi Eisenkot, saying he does not connect with claims that Eisenkot was mediocre. At the same time, he said public discourse tends to “throw the baby out with the bathwater” when it comes to senior officers who made mistakes and were trapped in a mistaken concept.
He reserved especially harsh criticism for Eisenkot’s role in the Second Lebanon War, which he called “the worst war in the history of the State of Israel.” Aviivi said the campaign was planned incorrectly, including by copying methods from Judea and Samaria into fighting in Lebanon, which proved irrelevant on the ground. He also said major cuts to ground forces and the release of hundreds of thousands of reservists took place when Benny Gantz was chief of staff and Eisenkot was his deputy.
According to Aviivi, responsibility was shared, and although some governments failed to allocate the necessary budgets, the army also did not issue a clear warning that it was operating from a flawed concept. He ended by addressing ultra-Orthodox enlistment and the IDF’s manpower shortage, saying, “There is a process that needs to be done with the ultra-Orthodox society, but determination is required. We cannot move on when, in the end, the burden on those who serve is enormous. I do not say ‘burden,’ because serving is a privilege, but this must be dealt with.”
