Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant, the prime minister’s choice to be the next IDF chief of staff, has an almost insurmoutable obstacle in the path to his assuming his new job. He stole (or ‘appropriated’ if you prefer niceties) government land and annexed it to his home, lied about it, and now has lost the support of the government legal advisor who would defend him before the Supreme Court, if he could be defended. An Israeli NGO, Yesh Gvul, brought suit in the Supreme Court claiming Galant wasn’t fit to assume his job because of his unethical behavior. Most Israelis believed this issue was a mere fly in the ointment. The land theft had been publicly exposed many months earlier and it didn’t appear to harm his career then.
But that was until government lawyers starting poring over Galant’s testimony in court about the land and how it ended up in his hands. Then he became indefensible.
But as Gideon Levy writes, they appear about to reach the right decision but for the wrong reasons. It’s ironic that of all the unethical things Galant has done in the IDF, this was the one likely to do him in. Galant grabbed a piece of land for himself, true. But what are a few dunams compared to the vast amount of territory Israel has stolen from the Palestinians? Let’s not lose the forest for the trees.
Not to mention Galant’s role as commander of IDF forces during Operation Cast Lead, whose second bloody anniversary was commemorated last month. The bloody hand that killed 1,400 Gazans, 1,100 of them civilians, was about to be raised in a salute to the nation. The officer responsible for the war crimes committed then, for killing 250 unarmed police cadets, for killing the Samounis, for raining white phosphorus. That’s the reason Galant didn’t deserve his promotion. Not a case of petty corruption that characterizes the life of just about every Israeli politician, general or CEO.
One thing we can say though is that Galant’s brazen act of theft and his attempted coverup characterize public life for just about any Israeli of power or means. The way to the top is paved by deals and lies and payoffs. Chiefs of staff are no different.
Israel, of course, has its priorities screwed up. But you know what? I’ll take the right outcome for the wrong reasons anyday. Cynics, though, will say: what does it matter whether the new chief of staff is Yoav Galant or Benny Gantz, one of the other contenders? Aren’t they all the same? Perhaps yes. But to me opposition to this appointment is like the way you play defense in basketball. You harrass your opponent every way you can. You try to deflect him from his game. You do everything you can to stop him. Every little thing helps. You just don’t know what will be the decisive act that does him in.
The choice of Galant by Netanyahu indicates terrible weakness in the vetting process. In this country, the FBI and others go through the backgrounds of candidates for high government positions with a fine tooth comb. Those who nominate or appoint them want to know what they may face when the promotion is announced publicly. It’s a sign of how much consideration is given to such ethical issues that a known flagrant incident from Galant’s past wasn’t considered sufficient to disqualify him for the job. And poor Galant has the rug pulled out from under him only two weeks before he was to be sworn in for the plummiest job any IDF officer could secure.
Kudos to Yesh Gvul on their expected victory in this case. I’ll take such a win any way I can get it.
This is to show you that your allegations that courts are rubber stamp when it comes to the “security apparatus” are terribly unfounded.
The High Court of Justice rejected the Green Movement petition to issue a temporary order against Galant’s appointment as the new IDF chief of staff on the grounds of the land affair. The charges leveled by the State Comptroller that the General had made false statements didn’t even result in the nomination being withdrawn. The Attorney General’s action today seems to have sealed the fate of the nomination, not any action taken by the Court.
The appointment had already been approved by the Defense Minister, the Prime Minister, and the Turkel Committee which was in charge of authorizing public service appointments.
Apples & oranges. This is first of all a Supreme Court case. No Palestinian Israeli security cases usually get that far. If they did there might be greater scrutiny (though of course the judges would be loathe to accept such cases to begin with).
Galant is also in line to become chief of staff, about as high a position as one can have, so there is also naturally more scrutiny. Israel is satisfied to allow the avg. Palestinian Israeli security victim to languish in relative obscurity w. a very low if nil level of scrutiny & oversight.
Actually, I don’t think that it’s such a victory for us (i.e. Yesh Gvul). I mean that like you said I’ll take it, but chances are his replacement will be just as bad from a moral standpoint.
I have a sneaky suspicion that the people who are actually celebrating Galant’s imminent downfall are from the extreme right. The cesspool that Kalman Libskind, the Ma’ariv journalist who uncovered the affair proudly belongs to. Following the disengagement members of the extreme right decided that the people responsible for it will (and should) be punished by god, and that it is their duty to hound them to a point in which they are worse off than what they were before the disengagement. They saw Sharon’s stroke as a sign from god, as well as his son going to jail and the investigations that forced Olmert out of office. Galant was Sharon’s military secretary and as such, one of the prime facilitators of the disengagement plan. For them it is a crime so awfull that even killing several hundred Arabs cannot wipe it clean.
I’m surprised the you didn’t pick up on it while browsing rotter. They still have some signatures along the lines of “We will not forget and we will not forgive” as well as “Bring the disengagement criminals to justice!”. For them Galant’s resignation will be proof of the hand of god at work.
I fail to see your point.
The fact that some people are happy that he won’t be nominated for the job makes it wrong ?
Richard, how did you miss this:
The same Tirkel that run the investigation on the happening on the “marmara”, was the one that investigated Galant’s eligibility for the job and concluded that he is suited !
BTW, I’ll be happy if he loses the job, slowly but surly, the military guys learn there are limits.
My point is very simple. The means are just as important as the ends. The fact that Galant will not be chief of staff means much less when he is disqualified on personal corruption than if he were disqualified on the war crimes issue. The message that is sent to the other generals and to the general public is that committing war crimes is fine, as long as you don’t steal land and lie about it under oath(west of the green line of course).
The fact that some seriously disturbed people are happy that he lost the job doesn’t make his disqualification wrong, nor does it invalidate the very thorough investigative work carried out by Kalman Libskind despite his obvious agenda on the matter. What is wrong is that the aforementioned people consider it an “act of god” and think of themselves as instruments of divine vengeance. Nothing I can do about it of course but it is worth mentioning.
Indeed that’s already been proven. The temp. chief of staff will be Naveh, the very one responsible for targeted killings of unarmed Palestinians which motivated Anat Kamm’s leaks.
Yes, I noticed that Arutz Sheva articulated the story the same way. Galant’s troubles were punishment for the Gaza evacuation. Sickening. Yet another example of how the extreme settler right moves the political & even military agenda inside Israel.
Thanks for the background about how the Galant story was dug up. Because I live in the U.S. and track Israel from outside, there are some important nuances that I sometimes miss. But that’s why I have readers like you–to add to and improve my own reporting. So thanks.