Galant talks about the failure of the Israeli army in its battles… The absence of a war compass

The Israeli Defense Minister, Yoav Galant, revealed in a secret message he addressed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of the inner government, his fears of managing a war without a clear strategic direction.

This message comes in conjunction with the mutual escalation with Iran, as Galant indicated that “the major developments, most notably the exchange of direct strikes, require an urgent discussion and an update of the war’s objectives”.

In the message, which was described as confidential, Galant stressed that the absence of a compass or clear strategic direction weakens the management of the battle and negatively affects the decisions of the small government.

He called for updating the war objectives in a way that takes into account all fronts and understands the interrelationships between them, to achieve a comprehensive vision in confronting current challenges.

For his part, Netanyahu’s office responded on Sunday evening, in a brief statement, describing Galant’s message as “very confusing”.

The statement stressed that the government relies on only one compass, which is the war’s objectives as defined by the cabinet.

Galant said on Monday evening that the Israeli army needs more soldiers in light of the increasing number of dead and wounded in the battles.

This came in a speech by Galant before the Knesset plenum on the occasion of the opening of the winter parliamentary session.

According to Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, who quoted the Israeli Minister of Defense as saying that “my demand for an expanded conscription law isn’t political but fundamental, and the army’s needs have deepened”.

Regarding his demands not to pass a law exempting the Haredim (religious Jews) from military service, Galant said, “This isn’t a political issue, but a security and moral issue… The situation is dangerous… We’ve many dead and many wounded, and therefore we need more soldiers and more fighters”.

Galant, who belongs to the Likud party led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is demanding a conscription law that treats Israelis equally and does not exclude anyone from performing military service.

On the other hand, Opposition leader Yair Lapid told Netanyahu, who didn’t mention the draft exemption bill in his Knesset speech earlier Monday evening, “If you were really a strong prime minister, you would tell your (haredi) partners that the State of Israel is at war, that soldiers are being killed and wounded every day, so there will be no draft evasion law”.

Lapid added in a speech to the Knesset plenum, “If it mattered to you (Netanyahu), you would tell (Aryeh) Deri (leader of the haredi Shas party) and (Isaac) Goldknopf (leader of the haredi United Torah Judaism party) that you won’t distinguish between blood and blood in an existential war”.

Lapid asserted that the IDF is short by more than 10,000 soldiers.

“A true Zionist government wouldn’t even think of passing this contempt,” he added.

The opposition says Netanyahu promised the Shas and United Torah Judaism parties to pass a law exempting the Haredim from military service, in order to prevent them from withdrawing from his government and dismantling it.