“Israel” Admits Its Army’s Readiness Is Eroding

By Staff

Yedioth Ahronoth military affairs commentator, Ron Ben Yishai, said that “A senior source in the security establishment presented two weeks ago an important piece of information related to the security situation in the ‘Israeli’ entity”.

The source said, “A tremendous part of the regular ground occupation army is currently being recently invested in the West Bank with ongoing security missions, and this comes at the expense of training that it has not implemented.”

“This matter directly harms the army’s readiness for war, whether in Lebanon or in other arenas. Indeed, if there is any escalation that deteriorates into a war on several fronts, we may enter it unprepared, as what happened in the July 2006 War in Lebanon,” added the source.

Ben Yishai said that he has heard “these gloomy expectations more than once in the recent period from different sources talking about the capability of the ‘Israeli’ army and its readiness for a large-scale confrontation, in both regular and reserve soldiers.”

He went in to say, “The data speaks for itself. At the end of the last year, 13 battalions of the ground army – the vast majority of which are regular battalions and some reserve battalions – maintained the ongoing security in the West Bank and along the line of contact. Meanwhile, at the present time and for several months, 25 battalions from the ‘Israeli” ground army are maintaining security in West Bank, along with special units that carry out special tasks and 16 companies of border guards,” stressing that it is a “huge” force by all standards.

Besides, Ben Yishai said the situation will never improve and the “Israeli” army won’t hold training in the near future.

By the same token, the military affairs commentator noted that “no responsible and reliable source in ‘Israel’ can currently estimate when this escalation will subside or instead deteriorate into a large-scale intifada. But the prevailing opinion among all professionals is that the region is volatile and can catch fire in the future.”

Against the backdrop of tensions in the West Bank, Ben Yishai considered the coalition negotiations to have a special meaning, and said, “The most dangerous in them is the chaos and the struggle over powers, which not only characterize ministers and senior officials in the security, military and internal security establishment, but also all government ministries, which may lead to the lack of governance, both in the West Bank and in the occupied area west of the Green Line.”

He, likewise, affirmed that the struggle over power and the political differences between ministers will probably spill over to the “Israeli” army, the “Shabak” [Shin Bet], and the police.

The military expert concluded by saying, “The capacity and readiness of ground forces in the ‘Israeli’ army is rapidly eroding. The vulnerability to explosion in the areas of the West Bank, and perhaps in Gaza, is also increasing. Chaos in the government institutions threatens to cause fatal damage to governance in ‘Israel’ and the territories. Therefore, there is only one thing that can be said confidently and that is 2023 will be a challenging year.”