The IDF Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi, the head of the Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, the commander of the Southern Command, Yaron Finkelman, and the head of military intelligence, Aharon Haliva, are Israeli patriots.

Precisely because of this, the four of them should resign from their positions – soon.

They are patriots, and their resignation will be a great patriotic act for their country and people. They will leave, thereby signaling to the political leadership that their time is up too.

They are patriots, and their resignation will be a great patriotic act for their country and people. They will leave, thereby signaling to the political leadership that their time is up too. They will put leave, thus ceasing to be used as an excuse for the political leadership, which can depend on the fact that no one has resigned yet. They will leave, thus signaling to the public that it is now possible to demand the change that we have all been patiently waiting for.

There is no doubt that they will resign at some point. All of them have already said, or hinted, that this is their intention. They have already taken responsibility for the terrible failure of Oct. 7. The public looks at them and knows: these are Israeli patriots. These are Israeli tragic heroes. They failed, and the result is horrific, but not because they were cynical, or evil, or idle. Therefore, even after their terrible failure, the public continues to trust them. According to the latest JPPI survey, 75% of the Jewish public trusts them. A majority of coalition and opposition voters, and of secular and religious voters. Halevi, Bar, Finkelman, Haliva, all said “we failed.” And we believe them. We know that they are honest and brave.

We have much less faith in the political leadership. Trust in PM Benjamin Netanyahu is a little over 30%. Trust in the government is also a little over 30%. Less than a third of the public wants to wait for the next elections until the slated time. Most want them to be held before the end of 2024. The public wants a chance to change the leadership. The uniform wearers will help him by pointing out to the tie wearers the path that powerful and influential personalities who have failed should take.

Those who oppose an imminent resignation of the senior officers cite two main reasons. The first – we are still at war and their skills are needed. The second – the appointment of the next commanders must not be left in the hands of the current government. The first reason was a good reason in the opening months of the war. But after six months, we are no longer in the middle of a steep uphill charge. We gallop up and down hills. The war is not over, but it is definitely less intense. We can now afford to have a gradual change of command. 

Which leads to the second reason: In the IDF there is more or less unanimity regarding the question of who will be the next Chief of Staff. His name is Eyal Zamir. He is the director general of the Ministry of Defense. He was the deputy IDF chief of staff. He was Netanyahu’s military affairs secretary. He was the commander of the Southern Command. He is likely to be parachuted back as chief of the IDF. Or so say those who think they know. Let’s assume they’re right. If this is the case, there is no reason to panic about the man “this government will appoint”: It will appoint a man fit for the job. And even if it isn’t Zamir, it will appoint a man fit for the job. A lieutenant colonel will not be suddenly promoted to the position of Chief of Staff. A political hack from Netanyahu’s office will not be promoted to Chief of Staff. It’s too important a job, too big, for the government to go crazy. And we can trust Defense Minister Yoav Galant not to allow the government to go crazy. He has already proven several times that when it comes to matters of this kind he is not ready to go crazy.

In other words: The first reason has become obsolete. The second reason is not a reason. As fighters and as commanders, Halevi, Bar, Finkelman and Haliva have a substitute. As resigners, they have no substitute. 

“None of us will forget your contribution to the security of the country,” Prime Minister Golda Meir told Chief of Staff David Elazar when he submitted his resignation to the cabinet following the calamity of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. “With a heart full of pain we say goodbye to you.” Golda’s heart – according to her biographer, Meron Medzini – “was broken.” This is how we should all feel when Chief of Staff Halevi resigns.

The 1973 war started on Oct. 6.

General Elazar resigned six months later, at the beginning of April.

Meir resigned a week later.

Something I wrote in Hebrew

The debate on the draft of ultra-Orthodox men is going to continue for many months. Here’s what I wrote about where it currently stands:

In the coming months we will not see an increase in the recruitment of ultra-Orthodox to the IDF. Anyone who dreamed of four new battalions that would exempt him or her from the next reserve service should get a shot of realism. The ultra-Orthodox position against conscription is stable. The leadership will close ranks. The pressure on young haredim not to show signs of breaking will increase. True, if only 10% of yeshiva students wore uniforms – 6,000 young people! – it would be very significant. But such moves do not happen in one day. And not in two days. And what is important in this context is one thing: Not to declare failure in three months, because that is the biggest danger that lurks for us. That in three months, all kinds of wise men will announce that here, we tried and it didn’t work, so we have to go back to soft persuasion or leave the haredim alone.

A week’s numbers

At the end of his acceptance speech at the Academy Awards ceremony, filmmaker Jonathan Glazer said: “Right now, we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people.” Of the following options, which best captures your response to these words? Here’s how 800 Jews from JPPI’s panel of US Jews responded:

A reader’s response:

Question (the reader asked not to be identified): “Shmuel, aren’t you tired of us U.S. Jews?” Answer: “Sometimes I am, but then I remind myself that relationships require patience, investment and work.”

Shmuel Rosner is senior political editor. For more analysis of Israeli and international politics, visit Rosner’s Domain at jewishjournal.com/rosnersdomain.