Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi is expected to announce as early as Thursday the appointment of Brigadier General Shlomi Binder, who currently serves as head of the Operations Division in the General Staff, to head the IDF Intelligence Division. This was reported today (Tuesday) by Amir Bohbot on the Walla website.
Binder will replace Major General Aharon Haliva, who announced his retirement from the IDF last week due to his role in the massacre committed by Hamas in the Gaza Envelope.
At the same time, Halevi intends to appoint the commander of the Home Front Command, Major General Rafi Milo, as the commander of the Central Command in place of Major General Yehuda Fox, who is due to end his position in the summer.
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The IDF denied this. An IDF spokesman responded: "No appointments have been agreed upon. The appointment process is being conducted in an orderly and professional manner. If they are agreed upon, the public will be informed of this in an official and transparent manner.".
According to the report in Walla, some of the criticism that is already being directed at this stage against the Chief of Staff's intention to appoint Brigadier General Shlomi Binder as head of the Military Intelligence Directorate is based on two central points that are in his favor: the first - his sensitive and critical involvement on October 7, and what preceded it, as head of the Operations Brigade. The second - that Binder is a young general, and was preferred over more experienced and veteran generals.
According to Walla, there are elements in the government who strongly oppose appointing a new major general to the sensitive position. Objections and sharp criticism are expected to be heard in the coming days.
The new appointments of Binder and Milwa join a series of controversial appointments made by the Chief of Staff, despite public criticism. The army's top brass is also agitated by the Chief of Staff's intentions to make decisions about the future of the General Staff despite his failure on October 7. "How can a Chief of Staff who has failed himself make decisions about what the next General Staff will look like?" they say.
Amit Segal, the senior political commentator for News 12, sharply criticizes the impending appointment to the position of head of Military Intelligence: "Shlomi Binder, head of the Operations Division, is one of those responsible for the army's late failure to come to its senses on October 7," Segal wrote.
He also noted that in a discussion held at the top of the army, Binder claimed that "the number one problem in Judea and Samaria is nationalist crime.".
According to Segal, "the Chief of Staff does not intend to resign and also wants to shape the next Chief of Staff in his image.".
