ISRAEL: A cautionary tale of officers, gentlemen and snakes

Every so often, a legendary Israeli institution falls from grace. In 1995, the Shin Bet failed to protect Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin from assassination; in 1997, the Mossad loudly bungled an attempt to assassinate Khaled Meshaal in Jordan and more recently seems to have tripped over its tennis shoe laces in Dubai. Presidents have been disgraced by financial or sexual misconduct, prime ministers by corruption allegations.

Now the army is the latest of Israel's sacred cows to be skewered by scandal.

To start from the end, the next chief of staff has been named -- Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant, currently in charge of the Israel Defense Forces' southern command. He will replace Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, who ends his term in February. Galant, perceived as stubborn, reactionary and a natural if forceful leader, is the right man at the right time, commentators say. The appointment of an offensive-minded chief of staff sends a strong message to Iran, writes defense analyst Ron Ben-Yishai.

But before he deals with Iran or anything else, he'll need to clean up a small mess involving the weeks before his appointment.

A few weeks ago, Channel 2 reported the existence of a strategic campaign promoting Galant, one of a handful of candidates, for the appointment. It showed a document outlining the campaign strategy, actively building Galant as a positive brand while doing the opposite to Ashkenazi, the popular and much-admired incumbent. Ashkenazi is credited with rehabilitating the army after the second Lebanon war, but his relations with Defense Minister Ehud Barak -- not known for his  people skills -- are strained.

The document bore the logo of Israel's top strategic consultancy and public relations firm, headed by Eyal Arad, whose work as campaign strategist and media advisor to politicians has made him a force to be reckoned with. Arad worked closely with Ariel Sharon. Galant had been Sharon's military secretary. On the face of it, there was a dirty political campaign in a place it didn't belong.

But Arad rejected the document as a forgery and filed a police complaint, which prompted an investigation. It's not every day that police question the country's top brass. At the end of the day, the document was deemed fake and the army's top officers declared ''not implicated'' in its production.

Still, someone had gone to the trouble of faking it, and someone to the trouble of leaking it to the media. In between those events, it had been floating around the offices of the army's general headquarters for months. When the document surfaced, top army officials felt that something between a dirty bomb and a stink bomb had gone off at headquarters, said one military commentator.

The IDF has consistently enjoyed the highest level of public trust compared with other political and national institutions in Israel, including the police, Supreme Court, parliament and presidency. The Israel Democracy Institute's 2009 index shows 79% trust of the IDF among the general public and 88% among the Jewish public. The uproar over the document reflected the alarm that this relatively untainted inner sanctum had been infiltrated by corruption and that strategist tails were wagging the country's favorite dog.

So now it's clear: The army's top officers are not demigods, they're as mortal as the next guys, and general headquarters isn't immune to byzantine intrigue. When Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon -- today minister of strategic affairs -- was pushed out a year early, he commented that he wore high boots around military headquarters because of all the snakes in the grass. The comment was ridiculed at the time, but now, writes columnist Yoel Marcus, it's obvious he was right.

The investigation isn't over and questions remain, including who forged the document -- and why, it turns out, Ashkenazi had it for some time but refused to deal with it before a friend lost patience and gave it to the media.

Once the police cleared the candidates of suspicion, Barak quickly named Galant chief of staff. The Cabinet is expected to approve the appointment next week. All eyes are now on Ashkenazi, awaiting his next move. This isn't a time for political games in the army, commentators caution. The handover is likely to be professional and civilized. Still, no one comes out of this smelling like a rose.

-- Batsheva Sobelman in Jerusalem

Photo: Israeli army Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant during a training exercise in southern Israel on Sept. 28, 2008. Credit: Yossi Zamir / EPA

Comments

[ABG]

"Now watch as ABG says these are just a handful of "misguided malcontents" who had no business being in the IDF anyway since their very actions show how "unpatriotic" they are to Israel."

It's funny how you presume my thoughts and give them quotes, because this simply shows how misguided you are and obviously incapable of following a line of reasoning that is foreign to you.

Now we can watch you pound your desk table with ferocity yet again.

[Fact finder]

What the Jewish Voice for Peace is documenting here has become increasingly well known increasingly outside of Israel. On occasion, the online site Democracy Now.org has featured IDF soldiers who refuse to participate in the incursions into the occupied territories who justify by saying why commit themselves so much to the defense of the Settlers(aside from the oppressive tactics used against the Palestinians).

Now watch as ABG says these are just a handful of "misguided malcontents" who had no business being in the IDF anyway since their very actions show how "unpatriotic" they are to Israel.

[ABG]

Ol' Geezer: The point is based on definition. As in, if you don't know what a Zionist is, then you can't possibly be taken seriously when being critical of Zionism. If Zionism is viewed with a false context, as Onboard Skeptic has done repeatedly by indicating it as a form of Jewish supremacy, then it should be pointed out.

You've pretty much summed it up. If the debate is going to be about delegitimizing the State of Israel, then, yeah, the debater can't be taken seriously. The reality is she exists, along with the other 50+ countries developed out of the Ottoman Empire. What makes her special is she's the smallest and the only Judaic one.

Which is enough of a reason to start endless wars over, no doubt.

[Jewish Voice For Peace]

The Israeli army lies and cheats about everything else. Why should any of us be surprised that they lie and cheat amongst themselves?

Want to hear more Israeli IDF soldiers tell the truth about what the IDF is really like? Go to the web site of the Israeli NGO Shovrim Shtika, where Israeli soldiers "Break The Silence", and talk first hand about the abuses and crimes they personally committed in the Occupied Territories:

http://www.shovrimshtika.org/index_e.asp

When you read that site, you'll realize it's time to join the worldwide coalition of Israelis, Jews, Christians, Americans and others who are saying "no more". Israel's ongoing illegal occupation and theft of Palestinian lands is a poisonous cancer to which Israeli society is addicted. If this cycle of injustice is to ever end, America must stop enabling Israel's addiction (and provide the impetus for change) by cutting off the $3 billion in American military aid Israel receives every year.

For the sake of humanity. For the sake of justice. For the sake of Israel's survival. It is time to BOYCOTT, DIVEST and SANCTION Israel. NOW.

Join us:

http://www.JewishVoiceForPeace.org

['ol Geezer]

ABG states:
"I am willing to call Carter a bold faced liar in terms of there being Apartheid in Israel just like I am willing to call you a constant apologist for the Palestinian cause which is to remove all Jewish influence from the Middle East."

Not exactly(about "removing all Jewish influence in the Middle East). On other posts in the past, I have called for the creation of a one state solution in Israel and in fact the same idea has even had a growing acceptance by increasing numbers of Jewish settlers(who in my book would qualify as ideologically driven fundamentalists but then they're not ceding any territory with such a plan as the creation of a new Palestinian state). As unrealistic as it might sound, it could even work if both sides somehow succeed in overcoming the implacable mistrust between them.

And yes, I could hardly be expected to be taken seriously by someone like yourself who is committed to the Zionist cause no matter what.

[ABG]

I am willing to call Carter a bold faced liar in terms of there being Apartheid in Israel just like I am willing to call you a constant apologist for the Palestinian cause which is to remove all Jewish influence from the Middle East. As for Goldstone, I am willing to call him a sad example of the Arabian agenda forcing its inherent "blame Israel" scheme on the UNHRC by giving it "some teeth."

But back to you, Skeptic: I don't consider you willing to ojectively view a situation that will in effect challenge your overtly simple-minded approach to calling Israel names for the sake of saving your anti-Israel face, i.e. your inability to grasp the Zionist concept thereby giving it a racist definition no matter its true meaning.

You are, quite frankly, one the lowest common Middle Eastern diagnosticians that always seem to post a bunch of gibberish while expecting to be taken seriously.

[Onboard skeptic]

ABG sayeth:

If it's anything like your definition of War Crimes, Occupation, Apartheid, and Terror, then chances are Israel is not a decmocracy according to you.

Yes, in listing these very things, you've just now cited the very criteria by which Israel qualifies so clearly as a non democracy, but I would emphasize these are the instruments of oppression by which the Palestinians have been subject to long term oprression and harrassment(unless you're willing to call Jimmy Carter a bold faced liar. And don't forget to include Goldstone as well).

[sam]

onboard skeptic
come to israel and you pick out the true palestinians from the murdering,bomb toting terrorists you will also be able to take a good long hard look at our social system,and care and be assured you wont have to be worried at checkpoints,we only look for the bad guys not blogers,
i would have thought that rome was better fitted to your comment(theocracy) thank you.

[sam]

dont you mean all the terrorists that have rooted them-selves among the palestinians will have a say

[ABG]

"If it were a TRUE democracy, then the Palestinians would have a truly equal say in policy matters there."

No... If Palestinians were actually members of Israeli society, then they would have equal voting rights. As it is, Palestinians have been rejecting Israeli law for the past 60 years.

Are you at all familiar with this situation?

[ABG]

Well, Onboard Skeptic, it depends on what your definition of Democracy is. If it's anything like your definition of War Crimes, Occupation, Apartheid, and Terror, then chances are Israel is not a decmocracy according to you.

But if free elections, multiple political parties, and peaceful exchanges of power are characteristics of a modern and free Democracy, then you betcha!

[Onboard skeptic]

To Blue Eyes.........

And just how does this investigation demonstrate that Israel is so democratic like you claim? It is of course if you're Israeli because then for instance you don't get hassled or harrassed at the many checkpoints they have.

FYI, Israel though "apparently" democratic is REALLY a theocracy. If it were a TRUE democracy, then the Palestinians would have a truly equal say in policy matters there.

[BlueyesLA]

Dear LA Times. Why most of your reporting about Israel is Negative.

How many countries in the world you know will have the police investigate the top brass to get to the bottom of an issue? Can you see it happens in great democracies like USA or Europe?

Eat your heart out. Israel isn’t perfect but it’s a true democracy not like many countries in the Arab world your reporters write about with admiration