Defense Minister Israel Katz intervened on behalf of a senior IDF officer slated for termination over failures surrounding the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, after the officer reportedly appealed to a Likud-affiliated crime family to prevent his ouster.

Citing top military officials, Haaretz reported Friday that weeks after he took office in November, Katz spoke with then-IDF chief Herzi Halevi about Col. Haim Cohen, commander of the Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade, who stepped down in April.

Halevi, who himself stepped down in March, reportedly told his staff that Katz had asked specifically whether he would fire Cohen.

It was unclear if Halevi was influenced by the call, the report said. He did not promote Cohen, and later included his name in a list of officers recommended for termination by current IDF chief Eyal Zamir, though Zamir did not act on the matter, according to Haaretz.

The sources cited by the newspaper described the call from Katz to Halevi as highly unusual. One said Halevi sensed Katz’s questions “had a shade of political intervention.”

“It was a bizarre call,” said the source, adding that Halevi ultimately decided not to oust anyone until the IDF completed its October 7 investigations, a month before Halevi resigned.

The call reportedly came after Cohen appealed via intermediaries to the son of Rafi Chaim-Kedoshim, a well-connected member of Katz’s own Likud party on the Herzliya city council, who has served four prison terms and is considered to be part of a local crime family.

The unnamed son was reportedly serving at the time in the IDF’s Netzah Yehuda Battalion, which had come under Cohen’s command when it was sent to Gaza to reinforce Northern Brigade troops who were fighting there.

The son, said to have been a sergeant in Netzah Yehuda, told fellow soldiers in his unit that his father promised to “take care” of the matter of Cohen’s ouster, according to Haaretz.

Chaim-Kedoshim’s sister Natali Gozlan Bokobza, who serves as an adviser to Katz, was also involved in efforts to prevent Cohen’s ouster, as was Sedot Negev Regional Council head Tamir Idan, a Likud power player who appealed to Katz regarding Cohen, Haaretz reported, citing Defense Ministry sources.

Katz was one of several Likud ministers who sparked controversy for attending an event at Chaim-Kedoshim’s home in March 2023, and a Likud source cited by Haaretz said the two were close.

Katz, Chaim-Kedoshim and Gozlan Bokobza denied the report, with the latter threatening to sue for defamation. Idan confirmed appealing to Katz about Cohen’s ouster, adding that he “appreciates the defense minister for having stopped this nasty move.”

The IDF said military personnel decisions “will continue being made in appropriate closed forums,” and that any claims that Cohen sought to prevent his own ouster via intermediaries were “unknown to the IDF.”

A statement on behalf of Cohen said the report sought to promote a false narrative that he had been ousted.

“Col. Haim Cohen finished his role after a full term as a combat brigade commander and retired from the IDF,” the statement said. “Any statements about appeals by the officer to various actors are irrelevant.”

The Walla news site reported in December that Halevi had decided to remove Cohen from the Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade command, and that Cohen had learned of the decision from the media.

Days before the reports, Halevi had also signaled to Cohen that he was expected to take responsibility for the October 7 failures and resign, Haaretz said.

Cohen, according to sources Haaretz said had spoken with him at the time, did not intent to resign and hinted he would legally challenge any attempt to oust him.

A senior officer quoted by Haaretz said Cohen was desperate to serve a full term of two years on the job — as he ended up doing — “so no one could say he was fired.”

“Haim is very concerned with what is said about him and what will be remembered about him. It’s important to his that when you search his name online it won’t say he was fired. He was crazed about serving out those two years no matter what,” said the officer.

On the morning of October 7, 2023, Cohen remained in his war room at the Gaza Division base near Re’im. His counterpart, Col. Asaf Hamami, the commander of the Southern Brigade, was killed fighting Hamas terrorists near Nirim, and his body was abducted to Gaza.

Cohen’s brigade had been tasked with protecting some of the hardest-hit areas of the October 7 massacre, including Kibbutz Be’eri and Kibbutz Kfar Aza and the site near Re’im where the Nova music festival took place.

Haaretz reported earlier this month that Cohen visited the site of Nova about an hour before the massacre began, and did not inquire whether it was worth shutting the event down.

Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.