Petition: Wait with appointing new army chief
Movement for Quality Government in Israel petitions High Court of Justice, demanding to freeze appointment of Gabi Ashkenazi. 'Appointing him now is unreasonable, as the same candidate could be found responsible for personal failures related to the war within a few weeks,' petition says
A request was also submitted for an interim order which would instruct the prime minister and defense minister to refrain from submitting their recommendation for a candidate and prevent a government decision on the appointment from coming into force until the court rules on the petition.
The petition, filed by Attorneys Eliad Sharaga and Barak Calev, charged that a new chief of staff should not be appointed "until the Winograd Commission ruled whether the different candidates were personally responsible for the Lebanon failures, and at least until it is made clear whether the Winograd Committee chose to warn any of those candidates as responsible for the failures as part of the interim report scheduled to be issued in the coming weeks."
Movement officials believe that the decision to appoint a chief of staff out of a pool of candidates whose personal responsibility for the Lebanon war is still being probed by the committee is unacceptable.
According to the petition, "All the leading candidates for the post were among the key figures who led the IDF during the recent war and its preparations. There is no logic in appointing a person now, when the same candidate could be found responsible for failures related to the war in a number of weeks."
