Weekly Commentary: Security Echelon Only Recommended Abandoning Judicial Reform - Not Preparing For Conflict

Weekly Commentary: Security Echelon Only Recommended Abandoning Judicial
Reform – Not Preparing For Conflict
Dr. Aaron Lerner 7 March 2025

During the entire period leading to the October 7 2023 disaster the security
echelon had only one recommendation to the political echelon: abandon
judicial reform.

And now this political recommendation is being cited as the efforts of the
security echelon to prevent war.

But by coming empty handed to the political echelon, without any
recommendations which reflected a genuine belief that there was a danger of
war, the security echelon stripped itself of any standing in the eyes of the
political echelon.

And there was a lot to do.

Already back on 27 February 2022, in the wake of the Russian invasion of
Ukraine, I published a call for an “overall ramp-up in development and
production of defense systems/equipment with a shift to made In Israel
production to minimize the possibility that third parties can impact timely
supplies while delinking the programs from budget decisions made across the
Atlantic.”

Instead, a yihye bseder (it will be OK) attitude prevailed.

In January 2023 the United States sent 300,000 155mm artillery shells from
the War Reserve Stockpile Ammunition-Israel (WRSA-I) to the Ukraine.

It was only on August 1, 2023 that The Israel Ministry of Defense’s
Directorate of Production and Procurement (DOPP) signed an agreement with
Elbit Systems to procure tens of thousands of 155mm artillery shells.

That’s right. We were short the 300,000 and we only got around to ordering
tens of thousands over half a year later!

If the security echelon genuinely thought there was a danger, we would have
been ordering hundreds of thousands of made in Israel artillery shells back
that January.

And we would have purchased the ceramic vests, checked the batteries of the
sniper scopes and a hundred of other things which were missing on October
7th.

None of the above actions would have been the kind of “noise” which could
have “accelerated” the realization of war threats which the security echelon
cited to justify their recommendation that judicial reform be abandoned.

And this is only the tip of the iceberg,

So please spare us the criticism of the political echelon for ignoring these
warnings.

Don’t get me wrong about judicial reform.

The team handling judicial reform made a disastrous mistake by following the
standard legislative approaching of loading the draft legislation with
elements to concede to the opposition in bargaining.

It was clear from day one that there were many good Israelis who were
terrified by the idea that the drafts were going to be enacted as is.

But the judicial reform isn’t the story here.

It that the security echelon, in the critical period before October 7 2023,
acted like politicians instead of security experts.

________________________________________
IMRA – Independent Media Review and Analysis

Since 1992 providing news and analysis on the Middle East with a focus on
Arab-Israeli relations

Website: www.imra.org.il

Source: https://www.imra.org.il/story.php?id=74323