Former Defense Ministry official Zohar Palti urges caution on Gaza, Northern Command - interview

Former Head of the Security-Intelligence Department at the Defense Ministry Colonel (Res.) Zohar Palti responded in an interview with 103FM on Wednesday to the statement made by Major General Yehuda Fox at the changing Central Command commanders ceremony earlier this week.

"Fox made an amazing statement, in my opinion, regarding the fact the military echelon ordered him as the Central Command Chief to leave the West Bank as a secondary arena, and indeed, he succeeded in doing so," he stated.

"The same response applies regarding Northern Command. The military echelon defines the North as a secondary arena. As long as the North is defined this way, we must act wisely and cautiously, prioritizing primary efforts over secondary ones,” Palti emphasized.

“The primary effort is first and foremost to neutralize Hamas and its military capabilities, and as a top priority, bring our people who were left in Gaza back home. Only after that can we start dealing with the North.

Strategic caution and regional priorities

“Secondly, we need to examine whether the IDF is defending Israeli citizens in some of its activities in the North or involving a large [amount] of civilians who were not there."

Palti continued, saying, "We need to proceed cautiously and measuredly in the North, complete the primary effort first, and only then shift everything to the North. But even then, I will ask the question: is it right to focus on the North and not on those who are truly causing all this, which is Iran, but that's a different conversation."

Regarding the possibility of a ground entry into Lebanon, he responded: "We remember the 18 years we spent in Lebanon, and I suggest that before we announce [war against Hezbollah], especially with ground forces after the IDF has fought for so long in Gaza - taking a deep breath, reassessing, and seeing if it is in Israel's supreme interest, and not disconnecting this from the larger conversation about Iran."

Returning to discuss the newly appointed commander, Palti said, "I think Fox is going about things his own way, and at the start of his tenure, the first thing he did was visit the IDF and himself. Above all, he took responsibility. That's exactly what we want to see from our senior officers. I think he sets an example and is a role model for young officers."