In two weeks, President Isaac Herzog will receive the annual report on the state of public trust in government institutions by President of the Israel Democracy Institute Yohanan Plesner. The report is expected to reflect a growing public distrust in authorities, with one being particularly worrisome: the erosion of trust in the Israel Defense Forces.
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In last year's report – for 2020 – public trust in the military dropped from 90% to a shocking 81%. Such a sharp decrease was unprecedented, not even in times of crises were such numbers reported. The IDF claimed at the time that it was a one-time event and that a statistical deviation did not give an accurate reflection.
However, data for 2021, which will be published in early January, shows that the crisis is much more serious. According to the latest figures, public trust in the IDF did not increase from last year, which signals that a problem exists at the root.
And although initial data showed a slight increase in the public's trust in the military, it was attributed to Operation Guardian of the Walls and was short-lived, and by the end of 2021, the numbers decreased again.
Nevertheless, the IDF continues to enjoy the greatest public trust, which is no surprise, since the ones who serve in it and protect us are our sons and daughters. And yet, the erosion of public trust is cause for worry because it is not a fleeting matter, but a significant occurrence within the military.
Perhaps, some of the decline can be attributed to external processes, such as an overall decrease in public trust in all democracies around the world, and in Israel, due to the inability to pass a state budget for two years, and, of course, the coronavirus pandemic.
But the root of the problem comes from within the IDF: the military has struggled to deal with a series of crises that the public couldn't help but notice: starting with the food problems on IDF bases, recurring troubles with transportation to and from the bases, and salary issues. And even though the state has decided to increase soldiers' salaries by 50%, it is clear that top military officials chose to ensure their own pensions first, and only then take care of the IDF.
Last Friday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi convened the civil consultants that have been assigned to field officers to improve functioning.
For four hours, the consultants listened to how bad the situation was before Kochavi became chief of staff and how good the military has it today. The keynote speaker at the conference was Kochavi's associate, Col. Hadas Minka, whose main task was to build public trust in the IDF. How do her remarks at the conference fit in with the data from the Israel Democracy Institute? It is up to Kochavi to decide.
The conference was named "The Winning Commander," which is a pretty slogan, but without much value to it. The IDF has not won confrontations in many years, and the public does not buy the claims that Operation Guardian of the Walls was a spectacular success.
The public is also having a hard time understanding why the chief of staff who has time to write a book during his tenure is too busy to express a position on almost every issue. Just this week, Golani soldiers were targeted by settlers near the illegal yeshiva in Homesh, and Kochavi kept silent. Even when MK Bezalel Smotrich lashed out at the IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Ran Kochav and called him a "liar."
Instead of claiming that everything is fine, the chief of staff and top military officials should wake up to reality and listen to the soldiers and the public. If they say that there is a problem – and that is what they say for the second year in a row – then it is time to address it, immediately.
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