Military chief Herzi Halevi ‘forcefully condemns’ Avichay Buaron, who refuses to retract comments and says it’s his right to criticize the Central Command head
IDF chief Herzi Halevi denounced Likud MK Avichay Buaron on Tuesday, after the latter accused the military’s top officer in the West Bank of putting Palestinians’ well-being before that of Israelis.
In an interview earlier in the day with the Kan public broadcaster, Buaron charged that for the head of the Central Command, Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fox, “Allowing movement rights for Palestinians is more important than hermetically protecting Israelis.”
Responding to Buaron, the military put out a statement saying Halevi “forcefully condemns” the remark and expresses support for Fox, calling him an “ethical and excellent” commander.
“Under his command, IDF commanders and soldiers work night and day to ensure the security of residents of the Judea and Samaria area,” the statement said, referring to the West Bank.
“Any comment that casts doubt on the judgment of the general and his commitment to the security of Israeli citizens is wholly deserving of condemnation and has no merit,” it added.
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Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, a fellow member of Likud, also expressed support for Fox, who he said “dedicates his life to defending Israel.”
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (left) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with OC Central Command Yehuda Fox, at the scene of a terror attack in the Jordan Valley on April 7, 2023. (Haim Zach/GPO)
“I strongly denounce the baseless attacks on him by irresponsible political figures,” Gallant tweeted, without naming Buaron. “Any attack on IDF officers by a public official undermines Israel’s security.”
Buaron later doubled down on his comments, saying that even IDF major generals can be criticized: “I am sorry that Fox and others interpret substantive criticism as a personal attack, even when the criticism is said with respect.”
IDF chief Herzi Halevi speaks at an IDF cadets graduation ceremony at the Bahad 1 base in southern Israel, June 28, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)
In May, settler activists put out banners with Fox’s picture along Route 60 — the West Bank’s main north-south highway — that read: “The harassment of the settlement [enterprise] continues — six evictions within a week.” They were criticizing the general for authorizing the demolition of illegally built structures.
Heads of the IDF’s Central Command have repeatedly come under fire by some settler groups over the years for what they felt was insufficient action against security threats or egregious action against illegal Jewish settlements.
Fox, who is in charge of troops in the West Bank, called an unprecedented deadly settler rampage in the West Bank town of Huwara earlier this year a “pogrom.”
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