Brig. Gen. (res.) Amir Avivi, founder of the Habithonistim movement, launched a blistering attack Wednesday night on Amcha Yisrael chairman Brig. Gen. (res.) Ofer Winter, accusing him of lacking strategic understanding after Winter criticized the government’s handling of the war and its failure to achieve a clear victory in Gaza.
Winter held a political rally on Wednesday evening during which he not only criticized Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s management of the war but also placed the issue of Chareidi enlistment at the center of his political campaign, announcing that his party will not join a government unless it recruits Chareidim en masse.
“I listened to Ofer Winter’s remarks today, and I believe the time has come to say some things clearly,” Avivi began.
Avivi said he has been following Winter’s statements on the war for roughly a year and a half and has repeatedly seen “a lack of depth of thought and a lack of understanding of strategy at the national and international levels in a seven-front war.”
He argued that battlefield command skills do not necessarily translate into an ability to formulate national strategy or lead at the political level.
“A good tactician is not necessarily a strategist or a skilled statesman. These are entirely different worlds,” Avivi wrote.
Avivi accused Winter of reducing complex strategic questions to slogans while ignoring the constraints facing Israel, the need to prioritize between multiple fronts, and the regional and international considerations that shape wartime decision-making.
“In a fantasy world without constraints or challenges, without the need to prioritize between fronts, and without regional and global considerations, everything is black and white,” Avivi charged.
“How easy it is to sit in the stands for three years and, instead of contributing to the war effort, shout ‘Referee!’ from every platform when you don’t even understand the rules of the game you’re watching.”
Avivi noted that he founded Habithonistim roughly three years before the war in an effort to challenge Israel’s prevailing security doctrines and develop a long-term national security strategy. He said that both in his writings and in a book he published, he had warned that Israel could eventually find itself fighting a multi-front war.
Avivi said that following the October 7 massacre, he decided to devote his efforts to assisting the Israeli people, the security establishment and the government. Through that work, he said, he gained an up-close view of national decision-making and the complex considerations facing Israel’s political leadership during the war.
Avivi then sharply diverged from Winter’s criticism, offering strong praise for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s management of the war.
“Professionally, I believe that the Prime Minister has managed the campaign in an extremely impressive manner, and it is not over yet,” he wrote, adding that Netanyahu has made historic and courageous decisions throughout the war.
Avivi singled out Operation Rising Lion, describing it as a transformative event comparable in significance to the Six-Day War and one that is reshaping the Middle East.
He also praised Netanyahu for bringing the United States into the campaign, calling it “a historic event that will be discussed extensively in the future.”
“I have no doubt that victory will come,” Avivi concluded. “But it will come through deep thinking, determination, strategic patience and, alongside that, continued far-reaching diplomatic activity.
“Wars are not won with empty slogans—and certainly not from the stands.”
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
