The Galant affair

Maj-Gen. Yoav Galant was being considered as the replacement for Chief of the General Staff of the IDF Lieut.-Gen. Gaby Ashkenazi. Then it was discovered that Gen. Galant had taken some land in his settlement (moshav) of Amikam, without legal right or permission. The Green Party brought a case against him and he lied in court that he did indeed have the legal ownership of that land, upon which he had built a driveway. Subsequently he admitted that that was wrong and he agreed either to give the land back or buy it legally, but it was too late. Since the Chief of Staff must be beyond reproach, the State Comptroller ruled that Gen Galant could not be considered for the exalted position, and so Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who was about to appoint him, was unable to do so.

The background to this situation is that Barak and Gen Ashkenazi have very strained relations, and not only did Barak decide not to extend Ashkanazi's appointment, but he also refused to allow him to continue for an interim period until a permanent replacement can be decided upon. This relationship was further damaged by the so-called "Harpaz affair." A document was circulated last year among the higher echelons of the IDF that purported to come from Gen. Galant's office and which denigrated various rivals of his who are contenders for the top post as well as Gen. Ashkenazi himself. Although this document was around for some time and was printed on the stationary of a PR firm, no-one investigated it. Finally, the Military Advocate General became involved and determined that the document was a forgery and had been authored by Lt. Col. Boaz Harpaz, in an attemtp to ensure that his boss Galant was appointed the next Chief of Staff. When Harpaz finally admitted his role in this affair, and Galant denied any knowledgte of the document's origin, Harpaz himself was punished, but Galant was found to be innocent. Now there is another twist to this story, Harpaz had applied to the Army to visit South America. Galant, his boss, gave him permission. But, Barak, decided that this was a scheme cooked up by Galant to allow Harpaz to flee the country.

So now you have the situation that in a few weeks there will be no Chief of Staff of the IDF. The name of Gen. Yair Naveh, Ashkenazi's deputy, has been raised as an interim appointment, but he has refused to be merely a temporary occupant of the post. There are also several other possible appointees, including Gen. Gadi Eizenkot and Gen. Benny Gantz, all of whom were passed over previously when Galant was chosen for the post, but who now are being re-considered. It's a mess, particularly when the IDF is concerned over the repercussions of the situation in Egypt. There has been criticism of how Barak handled this situation, allowing personal considerations to intervene in his decisions, and the whole process has been criticized since it has been customary for the Minister of Defense to choose the Chief of Staff of the IDF himself, obviously not a satisfactory procedure. Now PM Netanyahu has become involved and has decided to bring the appointment of the next Chief of Staff of the IDF to a vote in the Cabinet, Gantz being the selected candidate. This may further politicize what should be a purely technical appointment based on merit.