Behind the Blowup: The Dispute Between Katz and the Central Command Chief Revealed

Walla has learned that the bone of contention between Defense Minister Israel Katz and Central Command Chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth is the broad operation in the refugee camps. Katz pushed for the conquest of the refugee camps in the West Bank, while Bluth was in no hurry to launch the operation. Security sources assess that this heightened the tension until the blowup. Also revealed was a delay in appointing a replacement for Bluth and in other positions due to tension between the defense minister and the chief of staff.

Walla has learned that the bone of contention between Defense Minister Israel Katz and Central Command Chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth is the broad operation in the refugee camps. The defense minister pushed upon taking office for the conquest of the refugee camps in the West Bank, specifically in Jenin and Tulkarm, to bring about a turning point in the fight against terrorism. According to sources in the defense establishment, Maj. Gen. Bluth did not push for and was in no hurry to launch the operation. The sources added that the operation's outcomes on the ground are strategic: the terrorists fled to villages, the infrastructure was destroyed, and the IDF regained its freedom of action. Now, the defense minister is pushing for an additional operation in more refugee camps, but according to security sources, the Central Command chief is not rushing to advance the broad operation during this volatile period. According to assessments by security sources, this is the bone of contention between the parties and what heightened the tension between them until the blowup. Meanwhile, security sources insist that the selection of Maj. Gen. Dado Bar Kalifa as the next Central Command chief was decided already in May on the recommendation of Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, but the date for the handover was not set due to the chief of staff's refusal to deal with it. The same applies to the replacement for the Judea and Samaria Division commander and the head of the Civil Administration, which has remained without a commander since Brig. Gen. Hisham Ibrahim moved to serve as the defense minister's military secretary. According to security and military sources, the delay in these three personnel matters stems from the tension between the defense minister and the chief of staff over what is happening in the West Bank. While the defense minister pushes for a broad operation, the IDF is dragging its feet due to the burden on other fronts: Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, the West Bank, and other borders.