Moving from the margins to the center of decision-making... What does the coalition agreement between the Likud and the religious Zionist parties mean?

Occupied Jerusalem

- As the Israeli Prime Minister-designate and leader of the Likud Party, Benjamin Netanyahu, approaches an agreement with religious parties and extreme right-wing forces to form the next government, security and military leaders have escalated warnings of the crystallized coalition agreements because of their repercussions on what they called "the stability and immunity of the army."

The leaders of the security services and former officers of the occupation army criticized Netanyahu's agreement to transfer powers from the Ministry of Security to win the support of the head of "religious Zionism" Bezalel Smotrich, who will assume the position of Minister of Finance in the next government.

Smotrich will have powers in the "civil administration" of the occupation authorities in the West Bank, as well as the appointment of a representative in the office of the next Minister of Security.

According to the agreement between Smotrich and Netanyahu, the responsibilities of the occupation army authorities in the West Bank will be separated, where the so-called "commander of the central region" (the military commander of the West Bank) will remain under the command of the Minister of Security, while the "civil administration" will be subject to a minister from the "religious Zionist" party appointed in the Ministry of Defense. Security, which means reducing the powers of the Minister of Security and the Chief of Staff of the occupation army in these areas.

The “religious Zionist” party will have a major role in nominating and selecting the head of the “civil administration” for the West Bank, and the so-called “coordinator of government activities in the occupied territories,” which means granting the alliance of “religious Zionism” and extreme right-wing parties broad and unprecedented powers in planning and implementing government policies in every way. areas of daily life for the Palestinians.

According to the agreement, the representative of "religious Zionism" will be responsible for the responses that the Public Prosecution Office will provide to the Supreme Court's directives regarding administrative matters in the occupied West Bank, including with regard to settlement planning and construction projects, settler attacks, confiscation of Palestinian lands, house demolition files, and land and housing issues. military training, forced displacement, and movement of Palestinians in and outside the West Bank.

Israeli Chief of Staff Kochavi: No political interference in the military establishment was allowed (Israeli press)

broad opposition

Faced with these trends, the Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army, Aviv Kochavi, expressed his objection to the terms of the coalition agreement centered on the army and the military institution.

In closed conversations, details of which were reported by the Israeli Channel 13, Kochavi expressed his objection to future measures that threaten to undermine the powers of the Minister of Security and the Chief of Staff, with regard to defining the occupation authorities in the West Bank.

He stressed that he would not allow any interference, "even if it was simple," in the appointment of officers in the army and the civil administration, noting that this was "unthinkable."

"Any political interference in the army and the military establishment will not be allowed," he added.

The "Civil Administration" is the body directly responsible for the Palestinians and settlers in the West Bank and in all aspects, and it is the one that tries to contact and communicate with the Palestinian Authority in various civil and security issues.

In turn, the next army chief of staff, Herzi Halevi, who will assume his position in January, expressed his support for the position of the security and military leaders opposing the transfer of any of the powers of the Ministry of Security or the General Staff related to the West Bank, according to the military correspondent of Channel 13 Or Heller.

The beginning of the dismantling of the military establishment

Israeli journalist Yoav Stern says that the crystallized agreements suggest that the new government will clash on several fronts, including the disparity within the "Jewish community" in Israel and around the world, the settlement incursion file and the gradual annexation of the West Bank, the escalation against the Palestinians, and the undermining of the powers of the Minister of Security and the Chief of Staff, "and he is the one who threatens a crack." And cracks threaten the immunity and immunity of the army.”

Stern believes that granting anyone, other than the Minister of Security, the powers to appoint military leaders in the Civil Administration would "create chaos in the ranks of the army and harm the readiness of the forces deployed in the West Bank," stressing that granting Smotrich wide powers to appoint the head of the "Civil Administration." And the "coordinator" will lead to "breaking the chain of command" in the army and the military level.

And he warned - in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net - of the repercussions of the government coalition agreement between the Likud and the five partners from the right-wing parties, on "the future of the Israeli army and the unity of the Ministry of Security."

The agreement was seen as the beginning of undermining the Ministry of Security and dismantling the military institution, seeking to politicize it and deepen the rift in the army and the soldiers’ society.

Night raids of Israeli soldiers in West Bank towns (Al-Jazeera)

Army fortification hack

The same warnings were issued by Tal Lev Ram, a military analyst in Maariv newspaper, who suggested that the next army chief of staff would have to deal with many security and scientific challenges on the Palestinian level, the Iranian file, and the northern front with Lebanon and Syria.

However, the most prominent of these challenges, according to the military analyst, is the "fortification" of the Israeli army, the preservation of the unity of ranks and positions in the military establishment, and the distancing of politics from the army.

The military analyst told Al-Jazeera Net that Israeli society lives in an era of polarization and division, and its political and social differences are now reflected in the army.

He believes that the political coalition agreements harm the army and the military institution, and break through what he called "the wall formed by the officers and leaders of the military institution and the immunity that allows Israelis of all sectors, beliefs and religions to work and harmonize during military service."

A threat to annex the West Bank and the collapse of the Authority

In an article by retired Israeli general Amos Gilad, who previously held the position of coordinator of government actions in the occupied Palestinian territories in 1967, he described the coalition agreements to transfer powers from the Ministry of Security as "miserable", indicating that Israel will regret implementing such measures in the future.

The general explained - in his article published in the Hebrew newspaper "Yedioth Ahronoth" - that the military establishment, the army and security issues are not among the priorities of Smotrich and Ben Gvir, saying that they "dedicate most of their time and activity in order to implement the dream of annexing the West Bank to Israeli sovereignty for biblical religious considerations."

He believes that "the Civil Administration, under the leadership of Smotrich or another Knesset member from his party, will give them the ability to realize their dream, and pave the way for the complete annexation of the West Bank to Israeli sovereignty, and they will seek to serve the settlement project and annex Area C (about two-thirds of the West Bank according to the Oslo agreement) and they will stress Among their practices against the Palestinians, which are measures that pave the way for the collapse of the Palestinian Authority and the consolidation of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.