Two and a half years too late, Harpaz to be indicted
Two and a half years
too late, JPost reports that Boaz Harpaz is to be indicted for forging a document that prevented Yoav Galant (pictured above) from being appointed IDF Chief of Staff by then-Defense Minister Ehud Barak. What's more interesting is that
Gabi Ashkenazi, who was the outgoing chief of staff at the time, may also be indicted.
Boaz Harpaz forged the Harpaz Document and will be indicted,
according to Ran Nizri, a top aide to Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein,
in statements made to the Knesset Control Committee on Tuesday.
Nizri
said the indictment was mostly prepared already and that the only
reasons for the delay in indicting him two-and-a-half years after the
affair exploded onto the public agenda was to allow the continuing
investigations to be completed and to add all additional leads to the
indictment.
Magistrate Advocate General Maj.-Gen. Danny Efroni reported to the
Committee that he could not give an exact timeline for a decision on
whether he would indict former IDF chief-of-staff Lt.-Gen. (res.) Gabi
Ashkenazi and his former top aid Col. (res.) Ezer Viner.
Pressed
by Committee Chairman (Shas) MK Amnon Cohen on whether a decision would
be made within two to four months, Efroni demurred, but said that
investigators would work as hard as they could to come to a decision as
soon as possible.
Ashkenazi and Viner are under investigation for the military law violation of conduct unbecoming during their IDF service.
Benny Gantz was eventually appointed chief of staff.
What's missing here is the explanation of why Ashkenazi didn't want Galant appointed chief of staff. No,
it wasn't just about Ashkenazi's rivalry with Ehud Barak.
Caroline Glick reports how former Mossad director Meir Dagan and former IDF chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi may be weakening Israel's defenses against Iran.
Since
the beginning of his first term as prime minister 15 years ago,
Binyamin Netanyahu has consistently warned that the greatest dangers
Israel faces stem from the forces of global jihad generally and the
Iranian regime and its nuclear program specifically. After taking office
for the second time in 2009, Netanyahu made blocking Iran’s rise to
nuclear power his top priority. He ordered the heads of the Mossad and
the IDF to prepare plans to attack Iran’s nuclear installations.
Last
Friday, Haaretz reported that former Mossad chief Meir Dagan and former
IDF chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi refused to obey his
order. Rather than prepare strike plans, Dagan and Ashkenazi warned that
such a strike would foment a regional war. That is, rather than do
their jobs, they made excuses for failing to fulfill their duty to obey
Israel’s elected leadership.
Not wanting to take them on
directly, Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak decided to wait them
out. Dagan and Ashkenazi were both set to finish their terms at the
beginning of the year, and Netanyahu and Barak figured they could
replace them with commanders who would abide by the government’s wishes.
Specifically, Barak and Netanyahu believed that by replacing Ashkenazi
with his deputy Maj.-Gen. Yoav Galant, they would have a military leader
willing and able to take on the central challenge of preventing Iran
from becoming a nuclear power.
Barak announced last August that
Galant would replace Ashkenazi as IDF chief in January. Galant’s
appointment was approved by the government and by the Senior
Appointments Commission. But in late January, the government was forced
to cancel it. And this week we received new indications that Galant’s
appointment fell victim to what has been likened to a palace coup. That
is, the government was denied its right to choose its military leader by
a group of senior officials who deliberately usurped that power from
the government.
In January, we learned that Ashkenazi’s close
associate Lt.-Col. (ret.) Boaz Harpaz had forged a document that was
transferred by Ashkenazi’s office to Channel 2. The forgery purported to
be a memo written for Galant by the public relations firm owned by Eyal
Arad – Kadima’s public relations guru. The forged memo detailed a
public relations campaign that would discredit Galant’s rivals and
Ashkenazi, and so pave the way for Galant’s appointment as chief of
General Staff. Channel 2’s broadcast of the memo seriously harmed
Galant’s public image.
The police opened an investigation, and
Harpaz admitted to forging the document. Despite revelations that Harpaz
was in intensive, continuous contact with Ashkenazi’s wife Ronit and
had a longstanding close friendship with Ashkenazi himself, the Military
Advocate- General decided not to investigate Ashkenazi or any other
officer about their ties to Harpaz and his forged document.
Well, at least they're now (apparently) investigating Ashkenazi. But
read the whole thing. Should Weinstein be indicted too?
Labels: Benny Gantz, Binyamin Netanyahu, Boaz Harpaz, Ehud Barak, Gabi Ashkenazi, government corruption, IDF, Meir Dagan, Yehuda Weinstein, Yoav Galant
Oy... Remember the palace coup?
Last July, Caroline Glick wrote a piece in the JPost that she called the
Palace Coup (my blog of it
here), in which she explained how a group of senior Israeli officials, led by former Mossad director Meir Dagan and former IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, thwarted the appointment of Yoav Galant as IDF Chief of Staff. Galant was the choice of both Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu because he favored acting against Iran.
Fast forward nine months. Unsurprisingly, the current IDF Chief of Staff, Benny Gantz,
tells Haaretz that Iran is not going to develop a nuclear weapon because they are - get this -
rational. This is from the
New York Times' soon-to-be bureau chief Jodi Rudoren (the last link).
The Israeli military chief described the Iranian government as “rational” in interviews published Wednesday and said he did not believe it would build a nuclear bomb, appearing to put some distance between himself and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
“I believe he would be making an enormous mistake, and I don’t think he will want to go the extra mile,” the chief of staff of the Israeli Defense Force, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, told the left-leaning newspaper Haaretz, referring to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“I think the Iranian leadership is composed of very rational people,” General Gantz added. “But I agree that such a capability, in the hands of Islamic fundamentalists who at particular moments could make different calculations, is dangerous.”
...
Several analysts saw his comments as more in line with the views of Israel’s military and intelligence establishment, including the former Mossad chief Meir Dagan, than with the harder line taken by the government. They were also seen as parallel to the position of his United States counterpart, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“What he said,” said George Perkovich of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in an Associated Press article, is “consistent with the views of the U.S. military leadership, the U.S. intelligence community. What’s interesting is why he said it out loud.”
Meir Javedanfar, an Iranian-Israeli expert who lives in Tel Aviv, told The Guardian newspaper that Mr. Gantz’s comments were “a welcome development” that “takes the hysterics out of Israel’s public assessment of the Iranian nuclear program.”
Three points: First, I believe that Ganz is wrong, as do many, many (
maybe even most) Israelis.
Second, let's assume for a minute that Ganz is right and Iran does not actually develop a nuclear weapon. Let's say that - like Japan - they go to the edge and stop. Do we really want to live with a nuclear-capable Iran? Most Israelis do not.
Third, looking back on Glick's article, you should all be struck by the importance of the circumstances in which Gantz was appointed. Once again, the
branja, the country's wealthy Ashkenazi (no relation to the former IDF chief of staff) elite has imposed their will on the country by force, because they know better than us. When will it stop?
Labels: Benny Gantz, Binyamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak, Gabi Ashkenazi, Iranian nuclear threat, Meir Dagan, Yoav Galant
Who controls the IDF?
In a post which is behind the JPost paywall, but which I received by email in full, Evelyn Gordon wonders whether
the government controls the IDF anymore.
Ironically, the one officer who evidently did take the Sinai threat seriously was the man the government wanted as chief of staff: Yoav Galant. According to the Haaretz report, the last significant boost in the IDF’s deployment along the southern border occurred four years ago, when Galant, as GOC Southern Command, allocated more resources to this border from within his own command.
There’s obviously no guarantee that Galant would have beefed up the border further had his appointment gone through. Nor would an increased troop presence necessarily have prevented the negative outcome of the Eilat attacks: the loss of both Israeli and Egyptian lives and the consequent diplomatic crisis with Egypt. But war with Egypt would clearly be disastrous, and it ought to be equally clear, as I wrote both in May and last week, that enough such border incidents could eventually spark one. Hence trying to prevent such incidents should be top priority.
And as it turns out, the government actually did try: It decided over a year ago to boost deployment along the southern border, and it chose a new chief of staff who took the Sinai problem seriously.
But a coterie of unelected officials thwarted its efforts. Two successive chiefs of staff reportedly ignored its deployment order, while the state comptroller, attorney general and Supreme Court joined forces to nix its preferred choice to succeed Ashkenazi – and did so, incidentally, over alleged offenses far less serious than rank insubordination. That left the government scrambling for a last-minute replacement whom the legal mandarins would deem acceptable. And on this score, Gantz qualified.
The outcome obviously raises serious questions about Israel’s security. But it raises even more serious questions about Israel’s democracy. No country can call itself a democracy if its military is not subordinate to the elected civilian government. But in Israel, it turns out, the elected government has no control over the army: It can neither force a recalcitrant chief of staff to do its bidding nor replace him with a successor of its own choosing.
So is Israel in fact still a democracy? Or is it governed by an unelected junta of legal and military officials hiding behind the façade of democratic government? It’s hard to say precisely where the tipping point lies, but the trend is clear: For far too long, the unelected officials have been expanding their power at the expense of the elected ones. And unless the elected government starts fighting back, Israel can kiss its democracy good-bye.
Actually, it would probably be fairer to say that the Supreme Court controls the IDF given the court's continuing insistence on interfering with the IDF's operational decisions (like the 'security fence' route).
What could go wrong?
Labels: Benny Gantz, Gabi Ashkenazi, IDF following orders, Yoav Galant
The palace coup
Caroline Glick reports how former Mossad director Meir Dagan and former IDF chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi may be
weakening Israel's defenses against Iran.
Since the beginning of his first term as prime minister 15 years ago, Binyamin Netanyahu has consistently warned that the greatest dangers Israel faces stem from the forces of global jihad generally and the Iranian regime and its nuclear program specifically. After taking office for the second time in 2009, Netanyahu made blocking Iran’s rise to nuclear power his top priority. He ordered the heads of the Mossad and the IDF to prepare plans to attack Iran’s nuclear installations.
Last Friday, Haaretz reported that former Mossad chief Meir Dagan and former IDF chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi refused to obey his order. Rather than prepare strike plans, Dagan and Ashkenazi warned that such a strike would foment a regional war. That is, rather than do their jobs, they made excuses for failing to fulfill their duty to obey Israel’s elected leadership.
Not wanting to take them on directly, Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak decided to wait them out. Dagan and Ashkenazi were both set to finish their terms at the beginning of the year, and Netanyahu and Barak figured they could replace them with commanders who would abide by the government’s wishes. Specifically, Barak and Netanyahu believed that by replacing Ashkenazi with his deputy Maj.-Gen. Yoav Galant, they would have a military leader willing and able to take on the central challenge of preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear power.
Barak announced last August that Galant would replace Ashkenazi as IDF chief in January. Galant’s appointment was approved by the government and by the Senior Appointments Commission. But in late January, the government was forced to cancel it. And this week we received new indications that Galant’s appointment fell victim to what has been likened to a palace coup. That is, the government was denied its right to choose its military leader by a group of senior officials who deliberately usurped that power from the government.
In January, we learned that Ashkenazi’s close associate Lt.-Col. (ret.) Boaz Harpaz had forged a document that was transferred by Ashkenazi’s office to Channel 2. The forgery purported to be a memo written for Galant by the public relations firm owned by Eyal Arad – Kadima’s public relations guru. The forged memo detailed a public relations campaign that would discredit Galant’s rivals and Ashkenazi, and so pave the way for Galant’s appointment as chief of General Staff. Channel 2’s broadcast of the memo seriously harmed Galant’s public image.
The police opened an investigation, and Harpaz admitted to forging the document. Despite revelations that Harpaz was in intensive, continuous contact with Ashkenazi’s wife Ronit and had a longstanding close friendship with Ashkenazi himself, the Military Advocate- General decided not to investigate Ashkenazi or any other officer about their ties to Harpaz and his forged document.
Over the weekend, Yediot Aharonot reported that last week Harpaz underwent two lengthy interrogations by State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss. Harpaz is reportedly divulging information about his connections to Ashkenazi.
Despite Harpaz’s own admission that he forged the document, Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein has abstained, to date, from indicting him. Although jarring, Weinstein’s actions are not surprising. It was Weinstein who personally overturned Galant’s appointment in January.
Harpaz’s defamatory memo wasn’t the only thing working against Galant’s appointment. A previously unknown environmental group called the Green Movement filed a petition with the Supreme Court calling for the cancellation of Galant’s appointment because in the past he had used the state lands around his family homestead in Moshav Amikam without permission. Since his actions were administrative infractions rather than criminal acts, the Senior Appointments Commission concluded that he was fit to serve as chief of staff.
Weinstein felt differently. Claiming that he had ethical problems with Galant’s behavior, Weinstein refused to defend the appointment to the Supreme Court. Weinstein’s announcement forced the government to cancel Galant’s appointment.
Ashkenazi’s chosen successor,Maj.-Gen. Benny Gantz, whom Barak had previously eliminated from the running, was appointed instead.
Perhaps due to fear that Gantz might not stand up to Netanyahu and Barak as he and Ashkenazi did, Dagan shocked the country last month by launching an unprecedented public attack against Netanyahu and Barak. His clear aim was to discredit the option of an Israeli military strike against Iran.
According to Haaretz, Dagan was motivated by his desire to cover up his failure to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Also according to Haaretz, Ashkenazi, together with recently retired IDF intelligence chief Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin, supported Dagan’s attacks through off-record briefings.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Benny Gantz, Binyamin Netanyahu, Boaz Harpaz, Ehud Barak, Gabi Ashkenazi, Meir Dagan, Yoav Galant
Benny Gantz to be named IDF Chief of Staff
The government informed the Turkel Committee on Sunday that it wishes to name
Benny Gantz to be the next IDF Chief of Staff. The government hopes to have the appointment approved by the committee next week and by the cabinet next Sunday. Gantz would then take over immediately after Gabi Ashkenazi's retirement.
Yoav Galant, whose appointment as Ashkenazi's successor was officially canceled at Sunday's cabinet meeting, appealed to the Supreme Court and lost on Sunday.
So it looks like Benny Gantz will be the next IDF Chief of Staff.
Labels: Benny Gantz, Binyamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak, Gabi Ashkenazi, Yair Naveh, Yoav Galant
Galant appointment withdrawn, Naveh serving 'temporarily' instead
I'm sure some of you are wondering what happened with
Yoav Galant's appointment as IDF Chief of Staff.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Barak decided to
cancel Galant's appointment. Instead, Barak is proposing to appoint Deputy Chief of General Staff Maj.-Gen. Yair Naveh (pictured) as acting chief of staff for 60 days. Naveh would be the first religious officer to hold the post, but would not receive a promotion in rank and would serve in a caretaker status.
Some of you might recall Naveh's name from a
different context, which the media is mainly ignoring today. Maybe
having your pocket picked is a requirement for an IDF Chief of Staff.
Here's some
background on Naveh.
The son of Holocaust survivors, Naveh was born in Gedera in 1957 and went to high school at the prestigious Netiv Meir Yeshiva in the capital. He was drafted into the IDF in 1975 and climbed the ranks in the Golani Brigade until he was appointed commander of the elite infantry unit in 1991.
He later served as chief infantry and paratroopers officer, and in 1999 was appointed commander of the Gaza Division, a position he held during the first years of the second intifada. In 2003 he was appointed OC Home Front Command and in 2005 he became head of the IDF’s Central Command.
In 2007, Naveh retired from the army after 32 years of service and shortly thereafter was hired as the CEO of CityPass, the consortium that is building the light rail in Jerusalem.
He was brought back to the army in October to serve as deputy to Maj.-Gen. Yoav Galant, who had been tapped to succeed Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi and on Tuesday lost the post.
Naveh’s career has not always been easy. As commander of the Central Command, he oversaw the evacuation in 2005 from four settlements in Samaria as part of the disengagement.
Settlement supporters did not forgive him for his participation in the pullout and right-wing activists began stalking Naveh and held weekly demonstrations outside his home in Givat Shmuel.
Netiv Meir class of 1975 would put him two years behind
Avraham Burg.
Moshe (Boogie) Yaalon - a former IDF Chief of Staff and would-be defense minister -
ripped Barak for the mess.
Deputy Prime Minister and former IDF chief of staff Moshe Ya'alon said Wednesday that it is the government's responsibility to appoint a new IDF chief of staff as quickly as possible. Ya'alon was referring to Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's decision to cancel the appointment of Maj.-Gen. Yoav Galant, following a long fought battle in the court over issues with his appointment.
Ya'alon told Israel Radio that the best possible scenario would have been to allow outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi to continue to serve in his role until a new candidate takes the position, rather than appointing Deputy Chief of Staff Maj.-Gen. Yair Naveh to the role.
Ya'alon claimed that Barak was was leading the IDF system into insanity, but that some of the responsibility rests on the entire government as well. In Ya'alon's opinion, it is strictly the role of the government to fill the void left by recent legal proceedings, and that "the process of the last few months hurt the IDF, the chief of staff, General Galant, Chief of Staff Ashkenazi, and the entire government's status."
Kadima's Shaul Mofaz - also a former Defense Minister and IDF Chief of Staff - also ripped Barak.
According to an official statement released by committee chair MK Shaul Mofaz (Kadima), Wednesday was a "complex and sad day for the state of Israel." Mofaz said that he "opposes the personal persecution campaign against him [Galant]." He added that the committee plans to discuss the legitimacy of the process that Galant underwent, and to examine the possibility of imposing tight parliamentary supervision on future proceedings.
According to Mofaz, the past procedures surrounding Galant's appointment presented a "fundamental constitutional problem." He added: "the decision that was accepted yesterday by the defense minister and prime minister does not reflect what is right and needed for Israel at this time."
Like Ya'alon, the negative opinions on the situation do not center around the man who will fill the temporary appointment himself: Naveh. Rather, the internal conflict resides on the decision not to simply extend Ashkenazi's term until the role is filled.
Mofaz stressed, "My criticism is not personally directed at Deputy Chief of Staff General Yair Naveh, rather the inevitable feeling that ego and personal considerations made the decision not to extend the current chief of staff's term."
Barak and Ashkenazi are allegedly not on speaking terms.
What could go wrong?
Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak, Moshe Yaalon, Shaul Mofaz, Yair Naveh, Yoav Galant
Who will be the IDF's Chief of Staff?
In an earlier post, I reported that Israel may not have an IDF Chief of Staff on
February 14 when current Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi is scheduled to resign.
And in Israel, the IDF may not have a Chief of Staff in two weeks, because Defense Minister Barak's candidate for the position has been accused of perjury.
Israel Radio is now reporting that the Attorney General will inform the government on Tuesday that he
refuses to defend Galant's appointment from a High Court of Justice challenge.
Prime Minister Netanyahu will now have to decide whether to hand the issue back to the Turkel Committee, which examines senior civil service appointments.
Weinstein made the decision several hours before the deadline set by the High Court to respond to a petition aimed at preventing the appointment. According to the petition, which sparked a public row in recent weeks, Galant allegedly seized state lands and annexed them to his home in Moshav Amikam.
A new appointment would require starting the entire process over and could not be completed by February 14. Defense Minister Ehud Barak and current Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi are not on speaking terms, making it unlikely that Ashkenazi would agree to extend his term for another candidate to be found. Another possibility is for the government to hire a private attorney to defend Galant. Or we have no Chief of Staff in 13 days.
What could go wrong?
Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak, Gabi Ashkenazi, Yehuda Weinstein, Yoav Galant
Great news: Bedouin smugglers control Egyptian towns closest to Gaza
Time Magazine reports that Bedouin smugglers opposed to the Mubarak regime now control the
two Egyptian towns that are closest to the Gaza Strip. The towns are not named, but we have heard reports relating to both El Arish and Rafah over the past few days.
And a prominent Bedouin smuggler in the Sinai peninsula told TIME that Bedouin are now in control of the two towns closest to the Gaza Strip, and that they planned to press on to attack the Suez Canal if Mubarak does not step down. He also said that police stations in the south Sinai would be attacked if Bedouin prisoners were not released.
And in Israel, the IDF may not have a Chief of Staff in two weeks, because Defense Minister Barak's candidate for the position has been
accused of perjury.
What could go wrong?
Labels: Ehud Barak, El Arish, Gaza-Egypt border, IDF Chief of Staff, Philadelphi corridor, Politics, Rafah, World Politics, Yoav Galant
New IDF spokesman has no media experience
Yoav Galant, who replaces Gabi Ashkenazi as IDF Chief of Staff next month, has raised some eyebrows by appointing Lior Lotan to be the IDF spokesman. Lotan, an attorney and a combat soldier in the elite Sayeret Matkal unit, has
no media experience.
By appointing a decorated combat soldier to fill this post, which has gained great importance due to the intense media focus on the IDF in recent years, Galant is both sending a message and taking a calculated risk: The new spokesman will be a soldier's soldier, not a "spin doctor" like the incumbent, veteran journalist Avi Benayahu.
This is also Galant's first solo appointment. While he has already filled three other key posts, those appointments were made in consultation with Barak and current Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi.
Lotan, 45, commanded the 1994 raid on the house in the West Bank town of Bir Naballah where Hamas held Wachsman. But Wachsman and Capt. Nir Poraz were both killed in the raid, while Lotan was seriously injured. The citation he later received noted that despite being wounded twice, he refused to abandon the fight until all the terrorists had been killed.
...
After leaving Sayeret Matkal, Lotan, who is also a lawyer, spent almost a decade heading the General Staff's negotiations unit, and later, MI's unit for tracing MIAs. He played a major role in negotiating the 2004 deal under which Hezbollah returned businessman Elhanan Tennenbaum and the bodies of three kidnapped soldiers in exchange for Israel's release of more than 400 terrorists, and was later involved in negotiating with extremist settlers who barricaded themselves in their homes during the 2005 disengagement from Gaza.
But Lotan was not involved in the negotiations over kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit, and later criticized how these talks were conducted in op-eds written for Haaretz.
Lotan has no media experience whatsoever. Nevertheless, the prevailing assessment among both journalists and the staff of the IDF Spokesman's Office was that his long experience in both negotiations and psychological warfare operations would stand him in good stead.
Psychological warfare. There's a good way to describe how the IDF has to deal with the media here.
Labels: IDF spokesperson, Lior Lotan, psychological warfare, Yoav Galant
This should help you sleep well tonight
If you're an Israeli, or even if you're not, the latest release from Wikileaks ought to help you sleep well tonight. According to (soon to be former) IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, Iran could attack Israel within ten to twelve minutes. But Ashkenazi
fears Hamas and Hezbullah more.
IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said that Iran has over 300 missiles that could reach Israel within 10-12 minutes, according to cables released by WikiLeaks on Sunday.
During a November 15, 2009 meeting with a US Congress delegation led by Ike Skelton (D-MO), Ashkenazi added that that Israel was prepared for a major war against Hamas.
"I'm preparing the Israeli army in a major war, since it is easier to scale down to a smaller operation than to do the opposite," he said.
Ashkenazi told the delegation that "rocket threat against Israel is more serious than ever. Therefore, Israel has a strong emphasis on missile defense."
He added that although the Iranian threat is serious, the threat from Hamas and Hizbullah, which are funded by Iran, is most acute. Their rockets are more accurate than Iran's, due to their proximity to Israel.
"We therefore believe," Ashkenazi said, "that the next war will take place in the same areas where the previous wars occurred," Lebanon and Gaza.
According to the cables, Ashkenazi said that Hizbullah has over 40,000 rockets, most of which can reach any point within Israel, and Hamas has the ability to strike Tel Aviv.
Disruption of daily life in Tel Aviv is a major goal of Hizbullah and Hamas, and their weapons stockpiles indicated to the IDF that they are aiming for a lengthy conflict with Israel in which they plan to send a "massive number" of rockets into Israel daily.
The chief of staff explained that anti-missile defense systems can not cover the whole country; therefore the IDF sends out drones over Lebanon to "identify potential targets," he said. "So far, the drones have been a success."
And then there's this little tidbit:
In a related cable, from September 2009, Maj.- Gen. Yoav Galant told Senator Kirsten Gilibrand (D-NY) that had the IDF enterted main urban areas in Gaza, Operation Cast Lead would have lasted three days, not three weeks.
Well, then we should have entered the main urban areas and totally destroyed Hamas. But given that Olmert, Barak and Livni were in charge at the time, it's not surprising that we had such a weak response.
Labels: anti-missile systems, Gabi Ashkenazi, Hamas rockets, Hezbullah rockets, Iranian missiles, Yoav Galant
