Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have informed Maj.-Gen. Yoav Galant that his scheduled appointment to be IDF chief of General Staff has been cancelled.
The decision came following a decision by Attorney General Yehuda Weinsten not to support Galant's appointment after State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss found he was guilty of multiple improprieties in his land dealings near his home in Moshav Amikam.
Barak will appoint Deputy chief of General Staff Yair Naveh to fill the roll [hopefully with some nice cream cheese and salmon, JM] of chief of General Staff temporarily for 60 days when current chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi's term ends on February 14. A new chief of General Staff will be chosen during this period.
Time was when high-ranking officers could get away with such stuff. Thankfully, Israel is a mature democracy that won't let this kind of corruption happen. I hear Avigdor Lieberman might be charged soon with alleged money-laundering, and a raft of other alleged crimes. Maybe then his party's Stalinist committee will bite the dust too.
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