When reasonable decisions are finally taken, political pressure causes Netanyahu to back down on some of them,’ the official says, adding that ‘The Finance Ministry has no real power when facing the Health Ministry’
In learned essays in the press, in the TV news studios and even in a classified letter that somehow made its way to media outlets, the hoary slogan is repeated: Let the IDF win. Only the army can defeat the coronavirus, so it must be given full responsibility for dealing with the pandemic in Israel.
That’s certainly the view of Defense Minister Naftali Bennett, who has stayed in the job for longer than expected due to the breakdown in the Likud-Kahol Lavan coalition talks. The Home Front Command seems less excited by the prospect of leading the campaign. Chief of Staff Lt. Gen Aviv Kochavi gave his opinion in the above-mentioned confidential letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Bennett, but many in the army believe the letter was only perfunctory. The Israel Defense Forces offered, the offer was noted and the issue was laid at the door of the political leaders, who did not give their assent.
