A 'Generation of Failure' in Virtual Reality: New Documentary Asks, 'What Happened to the Israeli Army?'

 Omri Assenheim's documentary series "What Happened to the IDF?" broadcast on Israel's Channel 13 chalked up a significant achievement this week in the form of an interview with former IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi.

This is the first time since the start of the war that Kochavi, whose tour ended less than nine months before it erupted, has given an interview.

Two former top-ranking security figures, Kochavi and ex-Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, were perceived for years as being likely to enter politics and perhaps even seek the premiership.

Both were described as golden boys, and both had good reasons to keep a low public profile after the October 7 massacre. As subordinates to Netanyahu, both Kochavi and Cohen had foundational shares in the conception that underlay the failure: the choice to manage the Palestinian conflict and effectively freeze it without movement, the prolonged coming to terms with Hamas, the notion that the organization was deterred and weakened after every round of fighting and the turn to Qatari money as an analgesic that would calm the seething violence in the Gaza Strip.

When the war broke out, Cohen, who lived in a glass house, chose not to disappear but to try to reshape his image. He frequently appeared on television, where he dissociated himself from the transfer of the Qatari money (even though he was one of the architects of the system and attacked it only after concluding his tour in an interview with Ilana Dayan). Lately, he's been back on the small screen to promote his autobiography.

Kochavi disappeared under the radar until he was persuaded to sit in front of Assenheim's camera recently. This isn't the first time Assenheim has been able to get to declared interview refusers: His style, which isn't roughshod, is probably a contributing factor.

Throughout the interview, Kochavi didn't mention his successor, Halevi. Among those involved in the blunder, Halevi is a tragic figure. "Herzi Prince of Denmark," as one of his subordinates called him. Halevi, who resigned in March, has defended his views and his considerations ardently, but carries a heavy load of responsibility, which is apparent in every feature of his face. He often talks about t the war.

Looking back, part of the tragedy is related to the circumstances in which Halevi took over. He went to war with the army that Kochavi left him, for good and for bad. And he wasted most of the months preceding the war in attempts to defend the IDF from Netanyahu's demolition efforts, against the background of the regime overhaul and the protest of the reservists.

As for Kochavi, anyone who expected expressions of remorse doesn't know the man. The interview starts with a mild reprimand of the interviewer because of the title he chose for the series. (In 2008, when I co-authored a book with Avi Issacharoff about the 2006 Lebanon war, Kochavi recommended at the last minute that we change the title we chose in Hebrew, "Spider's Web," because it was liable to gladden the heart of then-Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah.)

In Kochavi's view, the IDF is "an excellent army": the army that recovered and launched a counterattack after October 7 in Gaza, and then reached decisive results both in Lebanon and in Iran, achievements for which he takes (justified) credit, thanks to his part in the preparations. The massacre itself is "a jolting matter, which needs to be investigated."