The First Religious General

In a weird twist of fate Yair Naveh has been appointed as temporary Chief of the general staff of the IDF. The Kippah Serugah community should be overjoyed - the long dream of having a religious Head of the IDF is about to be temporarily (and most likely permanently) achieved. However, Yair Naveh is not well liked at all by the Dati-Leumi community. He is remembered for being tough on the right wing extremists while he was in charge of  "Central Command" - basically the territories. He is also remembered for his role in the disengagement. If rumors are to be believed he has a hard time joining a minyan near his house in Giva't Shemuel. Sadly, in the Dati-Leumi community being tough on extremists is somehow considered a blemish. It is a shame that yet again we find that religiousness is going to be defined by political views, and so Naveh is not going to be considered a "religious" general, ergo, we will see no large celebration by the Dati-Leumi public on its achievements.

On a side note. General Naveh spent some time out of the army in the last few years. After his military service, Naveh was appointed as CEO of CityPass, the consortium building theJerusalem Light Rail. Galant lost his position as head of the general staff for possibly stealing some 30 Dunam of public land. I would say that the job done on the Jerusalem light rail, has caused a lot more damage then 30 dunam of land. I sure hope Naveh does a better job running the army!