IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi claims to anyone who will listen that the Israel Defense Forces' number one priority is getting the military ready for the next war. However, it turns out that the IDF fails to fulfill even the most minimal obligations set forth by the law in order to prove such readiness.
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A 2008 reserve service law requires the military to annually update the government – via the defense minister – about the Reserves' preparedness, as well as report it to the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. However, it turns out that the IDF has been neglecting this duty since 2018.
The objective of the law is to define the structure of the reserve forces and its capability and objectives as well as provide a framework for a call for reserve service and the rights and duties of reserve soldiers. It also declares that the Reserves are an inseparable part of IDF and constitute a central pillar on which IDF relies for purposes of state security.
As mentioned above, it also obligates the IDF to report to present the government at least once a year with an annual review of the reserve forces.
Therefore, as it turns out, the IDF has failed to uphold the law. No readiness reports have been submitted in the last three years, while Israel had three defense ministers: Benjamin Netanyahu, Naftali Bennett, and Benny Gantz – all of whom failed to enforce the matter.
A senior political figure described the situation as "scandalous," and blamed the government for the failure.
"The government is in charge of the IDF, and therefore, it's the government's duty to obtain a credible picture. The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee oversees the military, and must keep up to date with the situation," he said.
The IDF unofficially said that the reason it did not present the reserves preparedness report, as required by law, stemmed from the large number of election campaigns that took place in the last two years, as well as due to a lack of a functioning government.
The senior political official described the claim as "ridiculous and impertinent," saying that "the law does not exclude provisional governments and times of elections, because a war can break out at any time. The IDF had an obligation to formulate an orderly report and present it via the defense minister. This it failed to do."
Given such conduct on behalf of the IDF, there are rising suspicions that the military in general, and the reserve forces in particular, might not be prepared for war.
Following criticism on the matter, the military said in a statement, "The defense minister [Gantz], the chief of staff and the defense establishment consider the preparedness of the reserve force to be of paramount importance."
It said, "the [defense] minister has recently been presented a report, and it will soon be presented to a ministerial reserves committee that was established and will convene for the first time in four years in January, in which all issues will be presented, including strengthening the reserve forces.
"The matter of the reserve forces' readiness was presented several times last year as part of Security Cabinet and Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee discussions, the latest of which took place last week. Nevertheless, the defense minister will ensure that a comprehensive report is presented to the government annually, as required by law."
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