A senior official in the Israeli Reserve Army said yesterday that the occupation forces are in the worst condition they have been in since 1965, stressing they would enter in to a “dilemma” if they went to war, Quds Press reported.

Major General Yitzhak Brick, current ombudsman of the Israeli Defence Ministry, told the Knesset State Control Committee, that the Israeli army “has not witnessed such retreat since 1965”.

“There are critical gaps in the army… It is facing the worst organisational structure,” Brick said. “How can we win in a war in the light of full loss of control; the soldiers use their mobiles during training? We will be defeated. The deterioration of the Israeli army reached its peak.”

He added: “I am speaking about the culture of lies and silence which is widely spread among many of the army divisions.” He blamed the political leadership for this deterioration.

In October, Brick issued a report about the Israeli army’s not being ready for war, stressing that there is a need for urgent interference.

Brick stressed that the Israeli army suffers from a huge “malfunction” but the Israeli military leadership “hides the reality” about this. “The leaders of the army do not tell the truth regarding all sides of malfunction,” he said.

He pointed to a “severe crisis regarding manpower, weapons stores and maintenance of tanks and armoured vehicles.”

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