Above: Defense Minister Moshe (Bogie) Ya'alon at BGU on Tuesday.
Photo Credit: Shai Shmueli.
“Moving the IDF’s bases to the Negev is an historic move in terms of development of the Negev and the engine of growth in the area. It is a victory for all who are involved in the move. There isn’t a single government ministry that isn’t involved in the process, which can already be felt in terms of the building and infrastructure which has already been put in place. International companies realize that there is an international opportunity here. They’re lining up on our doorstep already,” Defense Minister Moshe (Bogie) Ya’alon said on Tuesday in Beer-Sheva at the beginning of the Moving the IDF to the Negev conference of Israel Defense in collaboration with the Defense Ministry and BGU.
“We want to see our soldiers building their lives in the South. It is very important to us. As chief of staff, I had the honor to lay the cornerstone for the training complex of the Training Base in Yeruham. As defense minister, I see the exquisite potential to the state and the Negev of realizing Ben-Gurion’s dream. Geographically, Beer-Sheva is the center of the country and that is how we should think about it. Beer-Sheva is going to be the national cyber capital. From our perspective - BGU is the center. In effect, this is a winning move for everyone," he said.
BGU Rector Prof. Zvi HaCohen, Deputy Vice-President & Dean for Research & Development Prof. Dan Blumberg, one of the initiators of the conference, Beer-Sheva Mayor Ruvik Danilovich, IDF C4I Head Maj.-Gen. Uzi Moskovitch and many others were among the participants.
Danilovich also addressed the importance of the IDF’s move south. “They’re not doing us a favor. The state is finally doing what is right. The career officers and the soldiers of the IDF cannot move to the South without preparing the right parameters and advanced services like education, infrastructure and roads, culture and more. Beer-Sheva must become an international draw bringing industry, projects and tourism from around the world,” he declared.
Moskovitch addressed the significance of the communications complex built in Beer-Sheva and said, “We are talking about transferring 5,000 people from the C4I Branch. They need to be offered a good package so they won’t just commute. It’s not a move of presentations and slides; it’s a move of human capital. There are no precedents for technological organizations of this size moving from place X to place Y; it’s an extremely significant stimulus.”
Moskovitch mentioned the creation of an all-IDF operational network. “The IDF is an army with outstanding achievements in the field of communications, but it is not fulfilling its potential. We are doing better than we expected but not as well as we might. Today, we are looking at network-based combat, organizational and procedural efficiency, functional continuity, technological innovation – fusion and information extraction, cloud and mobile technologies and we must connect all the criteria,” he said.
According to the General, Hizbullah is not just a guerilla, terror or military organization. “Its strategy is very challenging and in order to deal with it we need to adopt a wide spectral approach that demands a transition from actions between branch networks and information systems to shared information systems which will enable the realization of operational processes and maximizing our abilities in intelligence, communications and cyber.”
