IDF failed to inform defense minister of battle drill on Lebanon front
( Potentially disastrous conflict between the IDF and elected officials? Ass-covering or dust-raising disinfo? You decide… – JW )
The drill, in which thousands of IDF reservists were called up, was planned ahead of time but takes place during an especially sensitive time; Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee also didn’t know of the drill.
The Israel Defense Forces neglected to give Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon advanced notice of its intention to hold a large battle drill on the Lebanese front that began Monday, handing a blow to the upper ranks of Israel’s defense establishment.
Some 2,000 Israel Defense Forces reservists were called up for the simulation, which was coordinated as part of the army’s yearly drill plan. The timing of the drill is especially sensitive, however, due to the civil war in Syria and the recent tensions surrounding the possibility of an attack by Israel or the U.S. against chemical weapons sites in Syria.
Officials in the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee also complained that they were not informed of the drill ahead of time, particularly considering the fact that it is being held at such a sensitive time.
This is the second incident within the last week that the IDF leadership has embarrassed Israel’s political echelon.
Last Tuesday, Brig. Gen. Itai Brun, the head of the Research Division at Military Intelligence, said at a conference that Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime was using chemical weapons in that embattled country. The intelligence that Brun was referring to was credible, but his remark stirred tensions with the U.S., which feared that Israel was pushing it toward action in Syria.
The content of Brun’s statement was known to his commanders but was not coordinated with the political echelon. Over the past weeks, Israeli officials have been exerting great efforts to tone down the tensions between Jerusalem and Washington on the matter. Israeli political sources said that the IDF should give more thought to the consequences of its public actions.
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WarSclerotic 
April 30, 2013 at 9:43 PM
Maybe, just maybe someone somewhere has taken a page out of one of Alexander’s battles.
April 30, 2013 at 10:15 PM
The message to Israel foes is clear : ” look out, mfckers, when we’ll fall upon you, even our defense minister wont know it, so better be cool”.
April 30, 2013 at 10:26 PM
The fact they didn’t know about it tells you something
April 30, 2013 at 10:36 PM
You bet it tells.
April 30, 2013 at 10:33 PM
I’ve always wondered how far ahead of the political curve our military would go to defend our country. Hopefully they will be as aggressive as the IDF. All this political posturing may save lives, but I think that a point is reached where lives are carelessly placed in jeopardy for the sake of politics by politicians. Good military leadership is probably a better judge of this than someone who is always thinking of re-election. We shall see.
April 30, 2013 at 11:25 PM
There is no way civilian leadership could not be aware of a Military move of this magnitude. If they in fact did not, then, this is a dangerous occurrence and questions who’s calling the shots.