IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has put an end to a long-standing military tradition in which large sections of the army would take coordinated time off, primarily during major Yomim Tovim.
This long-followed routine, referred to within the IDF as “shutdown” or “hadmama,” involved entire bases or divisions going on leave at the same time during Yomim Tovim periods and at the close of the summer. While a minimal number of personnel would remain on duty to ensure operations continued, some non-essential divisions would completely halt activity for several days.
Prior to the devastating October 7, 2023, attack, the IDF was in the midst of one such operational pause, with numerous high-ranking officers away and only half the usual number of soldiers stationed along the Gaza border.
Since the war erupted, these large-scale breaks have been entirely suspended.
Speaking at a gathering of senior officers today, just days after assuming command, Zamir declared that “there will be no more shutdowns in the IDF,” while clarifying that soldiers will still be granted individual leave and vacation time, but not in a manner that affects entire units simultaneously.
During the same meeting, he told the officers that “2025 will be a year of war,” emphasizing that one of the highest priorities remains securing the release of hostages still in enemy hands.
Following IDF investigations into the circumstances that led to the October 7 attack, Zamir announced that the military will set up a system to also examine the course of the war and the various battles that have taken place. Additionally, he revealed that the IDF has allocated NIS 600 million to provide support for the families of fallen soldiers, as well as for career military personnel and reservists.
{Matzav.com Israel}
What obfuscation.
The majority of the IDF was kept on base for the first day of Sukkot, while only a skeleton crew was kept on base for the next chag of Shemini Atzeret.
My son was in basic training in the IDF at that time and I remember expressing my surprise to him that they didn’t even split the army 50-50 for service over both chagim, but did something like 80-20. (Eg, approx. 80% were kept on base for the first day of Sukkot, then approx. 20% were kept on base for Shemini Atzeret.) It didn’t make sense to me.
It feels even worse now, knowing that they had intel predicting an attack exactly at the location of the Nova party for right around Oct 7th, and they still didn’t keep a good number of troops on base.