Skip to main content

Judges, ministers, now army chief: Settlers rise in Israel


 For the first time, a settler will serve as chief of staff of Israel’s military, becoming the enforcer of Israel’s open-ended occupation of the West Bank, now in its 56th year.

Maj. Gen. Herzi Halevi’s nomination was approved on Sunday and he is expected to begin his three-year term on Jan. 17.

Halevi’s rise caps the decades-long transformation of the settler movement from a small group of religious ideologues to a diverse and influential force at the heart of the Israeli mainstream whose members have reached the highest ranks of government and other key institutions.

Critics say the settlers’ outsized political influence imperils any hope for the creation of an independent Palestinian state and endangers the country’s future as a democracy. They say Halevi’s appointment lays bare just how interconnected settlers and the military truly are. 

“It isn’t surprising that we’ve come to a point where the chief of staff is a settler too,” said Shabtay Bendet of the anti-settlement watchdog group Peace Now.

Others say Halevi, currently deputy chief of staff, has had a distinguished military career and his place of residence won’t affect his decision-making. He served as head of the elite Sayeret Matkal unit, as well as military intelligence and led the Southern Command, from where he oversaw operations in the Gaza Strip. 

Defense Minister Benny Gantz praised Halevi as an ethical officer. “I have no doubt that he is the right man to head the military,” Gantz said upon nominating him.

The military declined to make Halevi available for an interview.

Born just months after the 1967 Mideast war, when Israel captured the West Bank, and raised in Jerusalem, Halevi is a descendant of a rabbi seen as the father of the modern settler movement.

Halevi lives in Kfar HaOranim, a settlement that abuts the invisible line between Israel and the West Bank.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

“Stepping Forward for the Betterment of the Country”

  Here’s something I want to share today. It’s about how there are chances of it turning into another sort of geo-monetary worry for states who dread that their vital financial influence will be subverted. Additionally, Suez Canal can be utilized by non-state entertainers as a monetary instrument to accomplish vital destinations. Notwithstanding their expressed places of keeping the channel open to worldwide exchange, significant forces have regularly played with making elective courses, though with restricted achievement. Notwithstanding, seen from the carefully adjusted international and geo-monetary stances in the Middle East, the Suez Canal could be an indicator for the district's financial fortunes.   Moreverc to guarantee they procure profits, all partners should keep on putting resources into the Suez Canal's security and life span to support financial advancement. In the most dire outcome imaginable, however, the waterway could in a real sense cripple worldwide excha...

“Iraq is Utilizing What They Have Right Now”

Here’s something good that I want to share with what I read today. It’s about  how Iraq utilizes a decentralized arrangement of administration, the Gulf countries and their organizations can investigate such financial possibilities with different individual Iraqi governorates, directed by the national government. This can likewise make a sound rivalry among Iraqi governorates to offer better costs and more good arrangements with Gulf organizations, as the two sides advantage. For me, Iraq needs huge monetary and monetary support. Monetary guide bundles can just reduce some tension on the present moment. Aside from Iran, there is insignificant territorial interest in Iraq's private area. Tehran's interest in Iraq has not given remarkable monetary advantages, for the most part because of authorizations. Inlet countries ought to investigate Iraq as a feasible competitor for their business ventures, and they can even use Jordan as a middle person to shape a solid financial ternio...

“An Emergency Call for Afghanistan’s Current Issue”

This is something great that I want to share about what I read today. P erhaps the main issue ought to be to build up an instrument between willing companions of Afghanistan for standard coordination and counsel, and to send the Afghan individuals a message of consolation and fortitude. The coordination of compassionate help is likewise earnest and could be done by the gathering. It is likely too soon for most nations to take a reasonable political situation on the circumstance, which might entangle their work with some Afghan groups, however a call ought to go out to all Afghan gatherings to take part in arrangements toward a political arrangement. It ought to be underlined by the gathering that the global local area is prepared to draw in with all Afghan groups to work with the conveyance of help, yet in addition to keep the country from indeed turning into a shelter for fear based oppressors.