"On the day they appointed him defense minister, they told me - you won't be chief of staff"

Reserve Major General Matan Vilnai, in a stormy interview on Amir Oren's podcast "Ha'Afarseket," reveals how his appointment as chief of staff was blocked by former Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai, recounts the sight of Yoni Netanyahu's body at Entebbe, and levels accusations at the political echelon over the October 7 failure.

Reserve Major General Matan Vilnai, former deputy chief of staff, was interviewed on the podcast "Ha'Afarseket" by journalist Amir Oren and revealed new details about the thwarting of his appointment as chief of staff in the late 1990s. Vilnai claims that then-Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai blocked his appointment out of personal revenge, leading to the selection of Shaul Mofaz. According to him, his wife predicted the move on election day in 1996 and told him: "Matan, you won't be chief of staff." Vilnai said that later, after Mordechai was fired, Netanyahu offered him the position of defense minister but he refused. In the interview, he also recounts Operation Entebbe, where he served as deputy to Dan Shomron, and describes the difficult sight of Yoni Netanyahu's body wrapped in an aluminum blanket alongside the freed hostages. Additionally, Vilnai revealed that as commander of the Southern Command in the early 1990s, he maintained a personal wanted list, at the end of which remained Mohammed Deif, who "opened a personal account with him" after a squad under his command killed three soldiers. Vilnai levels harsh accusations at the political echelon over the October 7 failure.