The strange case of the Israeli defense minister
Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman is a rare bird in the sense that he has no significant military experience, never commanded a military unit and speaks a different language from that of the military world.
The wave of stabbing attacks known in some circles as the “individual infitada” resumed last week. This time, it was accompanied by a trickle of mortar fire in the Golan Heights, a consequence of the fighting between Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad and the rebel forces. On Sept. 20, the Israeli air force successfully shot down a Hamas drone over Gaza. However, Israel’s most active front was an internal one: the rising tension between the country’s two security chiefs — new Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman and the chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot.
As of now, the two parties have managed to contain the tension, making sure it does not spread or escalate into a full conflict. Mutual appreciation and common interests still overcome the soured relationship and the vast differences between them on various issues. Nevertheless, neither forgets that the epic conflagration at the start of the decade between Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi and Defense Minister Ehud Barak also started as a low-intensity feud before it erupted into a major conflict, the aftermath of which continues to plague the defense establishment even today.
Liberman is not integral to Israel’s defense system. He is not of the same flesh and blood as its military leaders. Eizenkot and the other members of the General Staff have no idea how to take the new minister, who may as well speak another language and come from a different planet. He did not rise up within the defense establishment, he never held a command position and he is unfamiliar with the military experience. He doesn’t owe anyone anything, and his worldview is very different from what is known as “Israel Defense Forces (IDF) values” and the traditional patterns of behavior within the military.
For the first few months, at least, both Liberman and Eizenkot managed to overcome these differences. Even today, their staffs emphasize that cooperation between them is excellent. The two men so appreciate each other that differences of opinion are resolved between them in private. This description of circumstances is still accurate. Nevertheless, the chief of staff’s stomach is starting to hurt, and there is a rift widening between the two men. While it has yet to become impassible, the ground hasn’t been solid for a long time.
