IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow the military to take over the management of the coronavirus crisis in Israel, as it constitutes a national emergency, Israel Hayom learned on Sunday.
Defense Minister Naftali Bennett said on Saturday that the management of the coronavirus crisis constituted "war" and should, therefore, be transferred immediately to his office.
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"If we want to cope with this [pandemic], if we want to reopen the Israeli economy, then all responsibility for managing the coronavirus crisis – from A to Z – must be transferred to the IDF and the Defense Ministry as quickly as possible," Bennett told Channel 12 News. "We're at war. We're fighting a tough biological war, against nature, but it's a war with colossal logistical issues.
Under Israeli law, if the government declares a national state of emergency, the Home Front Command is authorized to assume responsibility for crisis management in civilian authorities. The military's mandate over localities elapses immediately when the state of emergency is lifted.
Kochavi's remarks were sent in a letter to which only a handful of senior officials were privy, as the chief of staff does not want to be perceived as weighing in on the political loggerheads between Netanyahu and Bennett.
The chief of staff names eight issues he believes the IDF should assume responsibility for immediately.
Among them are coronavirus testing – an area where the IDF can utilize its considerable logistical abilities to increase testing, and information management, where the military could use its extensive capabilities to collect and analysis the information available on the virus so as to make better used of it.
He further noted other issues where the military has a distinct advantage over civilian authorities in terms of crisis management.
The IDF has been gearing up for the possibility that the Home Front Command will be asked to step in, a move the top military brass believes should have been taken weeks ago.
So far, the IDF has only taken command of several ultra-Orthodox cities where the public has flouted the Health Ministry's social distancing directives.
Defense officials said that Kochavi's letter expresses the disapproval among the General Staff from the way the coronavirus crisis is being handled. This does not mean he is siding with the defense minister, only that he seeks to sound the alarm, one source told Israel Hayom.
The letter stressed that the military was willing to step in and shoulder the national burden, but it was not free of criticism for how the government is handling the biggest civilian crisis in Israel's history.
Similar sentiments have been expressed over the past week by almost everyone involved in the coronavirus crisis – top officials in academia, healthcare, economics, the high tech industry, generals past and present, and communications experts, all of whom agree that while the government is taking important steps to curb the pandemic, the overall crisis is being mishandled.
There is a consensus that the current captains of the Health Ministry are out of their depth, one official said.
The National Crisis Management Center, a unit of the Prime Minister's Office, stepped in late in the game and is struggling to catch up as this time, it takes its orders from the Health Ministry.
One of the most disturbing examples of the Health Ministry's mismanagement of the situation is the insufficient number of daily coronavirus tests that, despite explicit orders from Netanyahu, has yet to cross the 10,000 mark per day and in fact averaged on half that number.
But every other issue - from logistics and procurement, through nursing homes and enforcing directives concerning those returning from abroad – has been encountering hurdles placed by the Health Ministry itself, seemingly backing the claim that it is simply not up to the task.
This concern grew last week when Health Ministry Yakov Litzman was diagnosed with the virus, sending dozens of officials, including Netanyahu, into mandatory self-isolation.
While the prime minister tested negative, Israeli media later reported that Litzman himself violated his ministry's social distancing orders.
The ministry's detractors argue its failures are driven by its officials' egos, while its defenders say that even the most talented individuals can't do much given the poor means that ministry has at its disposal.
The experts agree that the first order of the day should be named a "coronavirus cabinet" that will include the PM and the defense, health, finance, economy, welfare, and public security ministers, and will convene daily.
They further suggest naming a government point-person who will report directly to Netanyahu, and transferring responsibility to the Home Front Command and the National Emergency Authority in the Defense Ministry.
The IDF Spokesperson's Unit said in response, "The IDF maintains an ongoing dialogue with the political echelon throughout the crisis, with a perception of expansive responsibility. We will not comment on the nature of the dialogue."
