Arutz Sheva held an interview with Brig.-Gen. (res.) Oren Solomom, formerly a senior official in the Prime Minister’s Office and a commander in the Gaza Division, in which he slammed Military Advocate General (MAG) Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi and Attorney-General Gali Baharav Miara for endangering the lives of IDF soldiers and thwarting the achievements of the war’s goals by imposing unnecessary legal restraints that are far stricter than even international law.

Solomon explained that since Operation Cast Lead, legal advice in the IDF has dramatically expanded. “That was when the IDF began to bring many legal advisers into operational planning teams and those supervising the use of firepower and various weaponry. This didn’t exist before Operation Cast Lead. In this war, the weight of legal counsel has grown far beyond what is necessary—to the point of harming the security of our soldiers and preventing the achievement of the war’s strategic goals.”

“Legal advisers are now fully embedded in the planning groups and firepower authorization. They are the ones who approve every target. For example, if intelligence identifies a house where a terrorist lives, the target is transferred to the Air Force planning teams. The legal advisor may say that a one-ton bomb can’t be used because the shrapnel or even the blast wave could damage adjacent homes. Instead, they rule that a smaller bomb must be used, or the house can only be attacked after all surrounding houses are evacuated. That means gathering intelligence from Shin Bet and Military Intelligence on who lives nearby and issuing phone warnings to the neighbors—and by then, the terrorist has already fled. This process causes us to lose many targets.”

“This monster [of legal advice] has spiraled out of control. Even on October 7, as people were being slaughtered, murdered, and raped, legal orders were issued—including by the Chief of Staff—as if it was still October 6. And that has been the case throughout the war. The representatives of the Military Advocate General’s office have more and more influence and are restricting the use of firepower by our forces.”

Solomon said that the MAG’s intervention also extends to strategic military issues, such as displacing population centers. “Hamas draws its strength from the population that democratically elected it, supported it, and sheltered it. Every civilian knew and saw that there was a tunnel shaft in every house, and they never acted against Hamas. It’s not only the celebrations of the civilian population on October 7, and not only the testimonies of our hostages who said they were held by civilians. The population is Hamas. That doesn’t mean we should kill every woman and child in Gaza, but we must understand that this is a Hamas-supporting population, equivalent to Hamas, and we must treat them as such.”

“We need to separate the population from Hamas, what is called population movement. We encircle an area, seal it off, and order the population to move to another area—both because Hamas draws its strength from the population and because this population serves it operationally. Women and children move weapons to hiding places, act as lookouts, and Hamas hides among them. In order to use firepower more freely, we must separate the population from Hamas. But when we issue evacuation orders, not all of the civilians leave. And then the Attorney General and the MAG say: if the population refuses to move, they can’t be forced to do so. The catch is that if they don’t move, we’re still required to provide humanitarian aid, which Hamas seizes. So we provide support to Hamas, while at the same time, we can’t use firepower as needed or properly carry out combat operations.”

“The legal restraints cause the IDF to miss many real-time targets—dozens, perhaps hundreds, or thousands of strikes that were never carried out because of this policy.”

“The legal guidelines shackle and endanger our forces and prevent the achievement of the war’s strategic goals. It’s like a boxer whose hands and feet are tied, his eyes covered, and who is forced to hop on one leg, taking one step forward and two steps back—and then told to win the fight.”

Solomon added that these excessive legal restraints are not required by international law. “Many international law experts, both in Israel and abroad, say that international law actually permits far greater use of force than the IDF’s legal advisers allow. International law certainly never envisioned a massacre like October 7, perpetrated by monsters, nor a terror army shielded by civilians. This raises questions about its relevance. But even within existing law, we can apply it much more effectively.”

Solomon also noted that beyond the restrictions imposed during planning, many plans never even reach the legal advisers’ desks because commanders already know the proposals would be rejected. This, he said, is “just like laws never even being proposed in the Knesset because everyone already knows the Attorney General or the Supreme Court would strike them down.”

*“Many operations are prevented before they even reach the end of the process—and this is very serious,” he said. “No commander would dispute this. Even if the IDF spokesperson issues a statement, he can’t deny what I said—there isn’t a commander in the field who would disagree with my words.”

Regarding reports that dozens of MAG legal advisers “swarmed” the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv on the morning of October 7 in order to restrict the IDF’s response, Salomon said he also heard those reports but could not confirm them, as he and his oldest son were then engaged in a heavy battle with terrorists.

However, he added that according to investigations he saw, “the legal guidelines that were imposed on IDF counter-strikes on October 7 were identical to those of October 6. The impact of the legal restraints in the first hours of October 7 was enormous.”

Solomon noted that part of the problem is that the IDF Chief of Staff is not using his power to reject the legal restraints and try to change course. “We are facing a test of leadership and resolve. Unfortunately, that test of leadership has not been met. What I am saying here is only a small part of what many senior officers have said. Some were targeted and forced out of the army after failing to influence policy. We are now bringing this into the public discourse.”

“I call on every Israeli mother whose sons are fighting, on every reservist’s wife, and on every child whose parents are at war to make efforts to influence and change this policy to one that protects our forces’ security and ensures the achievement of the war goals,” Solomon asserted.

He added that these legal restrictions could also affect the plan to encircle Gaza City. “It would be easy to encircle Gaza City through the Netzarim corridor, placing choke points to move the population and cutting off all aid, water, food, and electricity. Those who remain are Hamas terrorists. They have food supplies for months, but not water—so either they will die of thirst or surrender. Anyone who refuses to implement this strategy is placing our forces at unnecessary risk. Hamas in Gaza City can and must be defeated in another way.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)