The storm caused by the disclosure of the "Galant document" is still in the headlines as Minister of Defense Ehud Barak today announced at today's cabinet that he has decided on the 20th chief of staff of the IDF: the man who will be promoted to Lieutenant General none other that GOC Southern Command who starred in the affair bearing his name: Major General Yoav Galant. The appointment is subject to cabinet approval.
"Because of the present circumstances, the appointment should be made quickly in order to restore stability to the IDF," Barak told the ministers, who wondered why he did not wait for the end of the Israel Police investigation into the affair.
Commenting on Barak's announcement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "This is the right move in order to restore stability to the army leadership and allow it to function properly again. The situation that has come about requires a quick decision, because the uncertainty has a high price."
Barak's decision was against the wishes of current IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi. Ashkenazi had asked Barak and Netanyahu to announce his successor near the end of his term, which is due in February 2011.
In a statement from defense minister's bureau on Friday, Barak said, "Cooperation with the chief of staff, Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, on defense and professional matters will continue until his last day as chief of staff."
Media reports this morning claim that Barak has frozen a number of senior IDF appointments that Ashkenazi wants to make, apparently to let the next chief of staff express his opinion on them.
On August 6, Channel 2 News correspondents Amnon Avramovich and Ronny Daniel disclosed a document bearing the stamp of the Eyal Adar media consultancy firm. The document set out a sophisticated scheme to promote the candidacy of Maj.-Gen. Yoav Galant for IDF chief of staff by creating a negative media and public image of his competitors and of the current chief of staff.
Over the subsequent two weeks, the media was brimming with questions, the most important of which were whether the document was genuine or a forgery, whether criminal conspiracy was involved, who wrote it, and who sent it to Channel 2 News. The storm centered on speculation about the involvement of aides to the chief of staff in the writing of the document.
On Friday, the source of the leak was identified as Col. (res.) Gabi Savioni. The media also report that the police suspect that Lt.-Col. (res.) Boaz Harpaz is the author of the document. The police cleared Galant of any involvement in the document at the start of the investigation.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 22, 2010
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