Slippery Slope

IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz placed a flag on the grave of Lt. Col. (res.) Shlomo (Mony) Nitzani instead of on the grave of the last soldier to have died in the serve, Yevgeny Tolotzki, because his Jewishness is in doubt. (Times of Israel)

(Hebrew – Haaretz)

The office of IDF Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, has stopped recording conversations conducted on land-line telephones, contrary to the norm during the tenure of his predecessors Dan Halutz, and Gabi Ashkenazi. In deliberations in which sensitive or controversial items are discussed some of the general staff members are asking that the operational system that records the discussions be turned off for fear that their statements will be used against them in the future.

(Hebrew – Walla!)

The State Comptroller has published his report on the “Harpaz document” scandal. The report says that those in IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi’s office and his associates led a campaign to gather dirt on Defense Minister Ehud Barak and that Ashkenazi was at least partially aware.  Further, the report determines that Chief of Staff aide, Col. Erez Weiner, discussed ways of obtaining slanderous information about Barak and his surroundings with Boaz Harpaz, who forged the Harpaz document. (Haaretz)

(Hebrew – Haaretz)

The military reporter for Channel 10 news, Or Heller, had received death threats following the publication of the recording of a conversation between Lt. Colonel Shalom Eisner and Hagit Rhein, mother of Major Benaya Rhein who was killed during the Second Lebanon War, in which Eisner sharply attacked the IDF Chief of Staff. “In the last few days I’ve received death threats,” said Heller, “I’ve had calls and hang-ups, received emails with assorted wishes that I die in one way or another. They call me a Nazi”. Over the last few days there has been a few publications by, among others, the Latma website and the My Israel movement, who launched a viral internet video against him. At the same time, a petition was initialized, asking to expel Heller from his position.

(Hebrew)

83 reserve soldiers and officers who served under Lt. Col. Shalom Eisner in recent years sent a letter in his support to the IDF Chief of Staff and Minister of Defense.  In the letter they asked to show their “support and respect for a moral and ethical commanded” who was filmed hitting a Danish activist in the face using his rifle.

(Hebrew - Ynet)

Students and soldiers from the Hesder Yeshivas [?] have called on IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz to reconsider his order to forbid religious troops from leaving official ceremonies which include women singing.

According to The Pit: The Dark Secrets behind IDF’s Worst Leadership Crisis, a book by journalists Dan Margalit and Ronen Bergman, the Special Operations Department of the Intelligence wing is infested with all sorts of corruption: shopping sprees of cheese and sausages, private use of operation vehicles etc. The book hints ex Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, used the false document prepared by Boaz Harpaz, in order to prevent the appointment of Yoav Gallant to replace him as Chief of Staff, which would have led to extending his own tenure.

(Hebrew)

Michael Eitan, a cabinet minister belonging to the Likud party, attacked Major General Yoav Gallant, soon to be Chief of Staff, and the Senior Positions Appointment Committee, headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Yaakov Turkel, which recommended that Gallant be appointed Chief of Staff, and the State Advocacy, which has been defending the appointment at the Supreme Court (Hebrew). According to Eitan, Gallant had unlawfully taken control of state real-estate in Moshav Amikam, provided false information to the Turkel Committee, unlawfully received personal benefits, and made unlawful use of the services of the Israel Army’s VIP bodyguard unit.

The police inquiry into the Harpaz-Gallant document affair found (Hebrew) that the people close to the Chief of Staff of the IDF, Gabi Ashkenzi, searched for “damning information” on the Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak, and the next Chief of Staff, Major General Yoav Gallant.