After Haaretz branded Avi Bluth the “general of bloodshed,” IDF Chief Eyal Zamir fiercely defended the decorated commander as a moral warrior dedicated to Israel’s defense.
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir on Thursday issued a sharp condemnation of Haaretz after the newspaper published an incendiary op-ed targeting Major General Avi Bluth, head of the IDF’s Central Command.
In a statement, Zamir declared: “I strongly condemn the horrifying and inciteful publications against the Commander of the Central Command, MG Avi Bluth, and condemn the shameful statements against him.”
He stressed that Bluth is “a frontline combat officer with values and morals, who has dedicated many years, days and nights, to defending the State of Israel and its citizens, particularly the citizens in Judea and Samaria.”
Slamming the newspaper’s use of imagery, Zamir said it “crosses every red line.” He added that the IDF would continue to confront terrorism in Judea and Samaria while upholding both the law and the army’s ethical code. “The attempt to challenge his actions or cast doubt on MG Bluth is detrimental to a public servant who devotes his life to the State of Israel, and is entirely unacceptable.”
The controversy erupted after Haaretz published a column by Gideon Levy under the headline, “The ‘General of Bloodshed’ in the West Bank Is Israel’s Moral Face.” Levy depicted Bluth as “Uberkommandant Avi Bluth” and accused him of embodying “arrogance, double standards of morality, and racist ideology.” The op-ed suggested that Bluth is aligned with settlers and even accused him of potentially leading “the next genocide, after Gaza.”
The editorial sparked outrage in Israeli military and political circles, with Zamir’s intervention marking one of the strongest rebukes by the IDF against a domestic media outlet in recent years.Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir on Thursday issued a sharp condemnation of Haaretz after the newspaper published an incendiary op-ed targeting Major General Avi Bluth, head of the IDF’s Central Command.
In a statement, Zamir declared: “I strongly condemn the horrifying and inciteful publications against the Commander of the Central Command, MG Avi Bluth, and condemn the shameful statements against him.”
He stressed that Bluth is “a frontline combat officer with values and morals, who has dedicated many years, days and nights, to defending the State of Israel and its citizens, particularly the citizens in Judea and Samaria.”
Slamming the newspaper’s use of imagery, Zamir said it “crosses every red line.” He added that the IDF would continue to confront terrorism in Judea and Samaria while upholding both the law and the army’s ethical code. “The attempt to challenge his actions or cast doubt on MG Bluth is detrimental to a public servant who devotes his life to the State of Israel, and is entirely unacceptable.”
The controversy erupted after Haaretz published a column by Gideon Levy under the headline, “The ‘General of Bloodshed’ in the West Bank Is Israel’s Moral Face.” Levy depicted Bluth as “Uberkommandant Avi Bluth” and accused him of embodying “arrogance, double standards of morality, and racist ideology.” The op-ed suggested that Bluth is aligned with settlers and even accused him of potentially leading “the next genocide, after Gaza.”
The editorial sparked outrage in Israeli military and political circles, with Zamir’s intervention marking one of the strongest rebukes by the IDF against a domestic media outlet in recent years.
