Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich addressed his party today regarding a recent report aired on Kan, which alleged that he had presented information at Cabinet meetings that the IDF had not disclosed.
“Last night, the channel aired a very serious accusation, the source of which is apparently a senior IDF official who has just finished his term and whose identity is known to me, which raises serious questions about the conduct within our defense establishment and the way it sees its role vis-a-vis politicians,” Smotrich began.
Expanding on the issue, he stated, “Three things are particularly serious in this report: first, the use of the term ‘mole’ with regard to IDF personnel. The soldiers and commanders of the IDF, past and present, are dedicated people who devote their lives to the security of Israel. To call them ‘moles’ is a serious statement that demeans the people who have dedicated and are dedicating their lives to the security of Israel.”
He continued, “Second, the report that there is ‘suspicion in the Cabinet.’ I ask – suspicion of whom? The Finance Minister is a member of the Cabinet and a member of the most secretive Cabinet committees. I have the highest security clearance and am privy to the most secret state secrets, even those that will not be declassified for 50 years. The Cabinet is the body entrusted with the most momentous decisions of the State of Israel. Existential decisions of the nation’s security and the future of the state, decisions of life and death. The Cabinet is my fellow ministers and I, under the leadership of the Prime Minister. In the Cabinet there is no suspicion. There is perhaps a suspicion among senior IDF officials that for years they have been concealing information from the Cabinet and misleading its members. This is an integral part of the factors that led to the October 7th massacre and is very serious.”
“The most serious point is the claim that the Finance Minister would come to the Cabinet with information that was not available to the Prime Minister. And I ask: How can it be in a democratic country, with an elected government and a security Cabinet, that any security official – and I emphasize, any – would hold critical information and not bring it to the knowledge of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet members? In what well-ordered state do Cabinet ministers have to cross-check the information given them in Cabinet meetings to make sure that they are not being kept in the dark or that they are not being told the whole truth. This statement reminds us of how many have not learned the lesson of the conduct that led to the events of the October 7th massacre.”
Smotrich asserted that “there are those here who still do not understand the role of the politicians and the duty of the professionals to it. There are those who do not understand what the security Cabinet is – the Temple of the security establishment and of Israel’s security. And there are those who think that such things are acceptable even after the October 7th massacre and the dire consequences that they have brought upon us.”
“Alas, I can attest that in many cases Herzi Halevi and the senior brass did not give us the truth and the whole truth in the Cabinet deliberations. Dozens of times when I was required to confront them with information I had brought from the field. This is something that cannot be tolerated.”
He emphasized that he would not apologize for taking his role seriously and studying the material thoroughly. “So I say here clearly – I am proud that since the war began I have invested hundreds and thousands of hours in studying and consulting and preparing the discussions. I turn every stone, every table, peruse every intelligence document sent to us, and hold conversations with dozens of elements in the various security systems in order to think, to consult, to gather information, to cross-check information, and to formulate my position.”
“I am in dialogue with every factor I think can add to my deliberations on Israel’s security. Some I have known before, some I have known in my capacity as Minister of Finance who funds the IDF, or in my capacity in the Defense Ministry, with others I have developed a relationship during the war in the course of in-depth conversations that were intended for one purpose only: the ability to make the best and most correct decisions.”
“Those who know me know that I have never leaked or briefed from Cabinet or other closed meetings and have never used information that comes to me for any purpose other than to fulfill my duty and responsibility in the Cabinet. And that is why people trust me and keep in touch with me. I am proud that I have sources of information and that I know quite a few things. As a member of the Cabinet, it is my duty to know. Without knowledge, there is no ability to make the right decisions. But I am also troubled. Troubled because I have seen with my own eyes how the position presented to us in the Cabinet – to the politicians – does not reflect the range of opinions and ideas that exist within the army, but rather a single position. A position that is unwilling to hear other opinions, that is unwilling to engage in genuine and satisfying discourse.”
“I very much hope that now, with the advent of the new Chief of Staff, General Eyal Zamir – and this is a good opportunity to welcome him – we will see a change. I hope first and foremost that within the army itself there will be more discourse, more humility, more listening, and more room for brainstorming and for different opinions. It is critical to avoid conceptions such as that which led to the October 7th massacre. And I hope that in the Cabinet we will hear more lines of thinking, there will be more dialogue and more mutuality. I hope that the new IDF under the command of General Zamir will welcome a Cabinet member who comes prepared for the discussions, raises ideas, questions and challenges the thinking, and not see this as a threat. And no less important – I hope we will see a genuine implementation of the directives of the politicians. For in the end, the responsibility for the security of Israel is that of the government of Israel, of the Prime Minister, of the Cabinet ministers, and of me. This responsibility I do not intend to shirk.”
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