A few weeks ago, top military officers held a symposium, led by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, to discuss the lessons learned from the first coronavirus outbreak.
Alongside tactical lessons, the main insight that emerged was that there is a national problem with respect to crisis management: the war on COVID-19 lacks its own "commander in chief" and therefore no one is navigating the efforts to break the chain of infections and keep Israel's morbidity rates within reason.
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No civilian body has held a similar process – not the National Security Council, which is currently heading the fight, not the Health Ministry, and not any of the other bodies involved in the national effort. Had they done so, the second outbreak would probably look different.
Behind closed doors, defense officials wondered this week what price Israel will have to pay before the Defense Ministry is finally called in to take over crisis management.
This is what the defense establishment is trained to do: carry the load, especially when the country is at war – a definition the fight against the coronavirus certainly fits on every level.
The Defense Ministry lobbied hard to take the lead during the first outbreak, arguing – and justly so – that the Home Front Command has the necessary expertise to lead the charge against the virus.
That didn't happen over the Health Ministry's objections, the political rivalry between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-Defense Minister Naftali Bennett, and the fact that the strict measures imposed by the government eventually reined in the virus.
The problem is that Israel did not vanquish the pandemic but rather fooled itself into thinking it did. The restrictions were lifted too soon and too fast, and the precious time Israel bought during the first outbreak was wasted, rather than used to prepare the future corona waves which are predicted to be worse.
Three weeks ago, Coronavirus National Information and Knowledge Center predicted there would be a steep increase in the number of people infected with the virus.
The dramatic information was not taken seriously, and many on social media wondered why the public has to be bothered with "such nonsense," and why the center was raining on our parade now that we had finally returned to some sort of normal.
Unfortunately, those predictions proved true, so the public would be wise to listen to these experts now.
Military experts believe the worst of the second wave of COVID-19 is still to come – to say nothing about potential future outbreaks, which are more than likely until such time that a vaccine is developed.
To stop things from deteriorating further rapid action must be taken: the testing apparatus must become more efficient, epidemiological investigations must become more effective, and patients must be isolated. Rapid action must be taken to avoid a full lockdown, the economic significance of which could be devastating to the economy.
This is what the defense establishment has been pushing for since March, regardless of the identity of the minister in charge. Military experts have backed this up with reports, letters, statements, and pleads, with every senior officer saying the same thing: Israel must take advantage of the IDF's unique logistical capabilities and manpower to provide an immediate solution to the problem.
Health Minister Yuli Edelstein seems to understand that better than his predecessor Yakov Litzman, and the fact that current ministry Director General Professor Hezi Levi is a former IDF chief medical officer probably helps as well.
The fight against coronavirus needs a true leader to guide all the players – the IDF and the Ministry of Defense, local authorities, HMOs, Treasury officials and others. In a real war situation that falls to the Defense Ministry. In the war on corona it could be the Health Ministry, but not as things stand now. There is simply too much chaos.
"We still have time to stop the next wave of corona, expected in winter," a senior officer told Israel Hayom.
"This requires full delegation of authority and an orderly decision-making process from the Corona cabinet that will outline policy, through the Health Ministry and down to the IDF, which will carry it out. If that does not happen immediately, we are bound to pay a heavy price in terms of public health and the economy."
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