IDF's Kochavi to Knesset: Coronavirus won't stop IDF from war readiness
“Our job is to strengthen deterrence; to defend on all fronts and dimensions; to strike the enemy as much as we can.”
By YONAH JEREMY BOBIDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi speaks at a ceremony marking the IDF’s role in the fight against the coronavirus, June 8, 2020.(photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)
The IDF will be ready for all eventualities of war regardless of the unique challenges posed by the coronavirus, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi said on Tuesday in his first public appearance at the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.Although Kochavi is closing in on two years into his term, during most of his tenure, the Knesset was not in session because of the three rounds of elections.“Our job is to strengthen deterrence, to defend on all of the fronts and dimensions, to strike the enemy as much as we can,” Kochavi said.He said the IDF needs “to prepare and be ready for war in order to win decisively in war, while at the same time to maintain ourselves as an organization with values and which sets an example.“The IDF is focused on this and we mean to continue to do this despite all of the challenges – budgetary, social, the challenges of corona. We do not have the privilege to take liberties. We need an army that is trained and ready in all circumstances.”Committee chairman Zvi Hauser said Gantz was leading the IDF in one of the most challenging periods that there have been.He said the IDF currently must achieve greater deterrence and a greater level of deadliness so that it can “win in the moment of truth.”Hauser stressed that the Knesset’s role was to perform oversight to make sure Kochavi and the government executive branch do all they can to achieve these goals.He said he sympathized with the challenges Kochavi is enduring during the pandemic, and a period of unprecedented political instability, adding that it was unacceptable that the Knesset has not passed a budget for the IDF for nearly three years.Following these short public statements, Kochavi then provided an extended classified presentation to the committee behind closed doors.Since it was set up in May, the committee has also met with Kochavi at IDF headquarters for other classified presentations.
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