Senior IDF officer who hid weapons for personal use suspended
Brig.-Gen. Kahane suspended by GOC Army Headquarters for 2 weeks until inquiry into his possession of illicit military, civilian equipment runs its course; Kahane was in possession of bullets, night vision gear, AK-47 presumed to come from Hamas.
Brig.-Gen. Mordechai Kahane, a chief combat intelligence officer and head of the IDF's border defense force, was suspended from duty for two weeks following an inquiry into his conduct over suspicions he kept illicit military equipment in a container for personal use.
The decision to suspend him was made by GOC Army Headquarters Maj.-Gen. Kobi Barak and approved by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot.
The IDF Criminal Investigation Division (CID) inquiry turned up suspicions the officer improperly received and possessed for a prolonged period of time both civilian and military gear. The CID's investigation is ongoing and pursuant decision regarding the senior officer will be made according to its findings.
The senior officer held a private container in the base in which he served where he kept an AK-47, a handgun, night-vision instruments and bullets, Israel Radio reported. The officer allegedly improved, renewed and utilized the weapons for his own purposes—and then had his personal driver hide it.
The AK-47 may have been taken as a spoil of war, possibly used by Hamas in the past.
"Brig.-Gen. Kahane has been in the IDF's service for 28 years, almost entirely in combat roles and—since Operation Protective Edge—in command roles. The officer is principled and honest and has been fully cooperating with investigators and provided his account. Brig.-Gen. Kahane is of the opinion the inquiry should proceed to its conclusion and the IDF's enforcement authorities should be allowed to make judgments on this matter, and therefore accepts the decision of GOC Army Headquarters to suspend him for a short period of time," said Chief Military Defense Councils, Col. Ran Cohen and Lt. Ariel Hebron, who represent the officer.
"In Kahane's view, an IDF commander taking personal responsibility is not just empty words and he intends to live by that credo should any faults be found in his conduct. The information we hold shows Kahane's conduct has no criminal aspects, and the inquiry should therefore be concluded post haste and the cloud hanging over him dispersed," they added.
Brig.-Gen. Kahane was reared in the Golani Brigade after joining the army from a Hesder yeshiva. As an army private, he was wounded in a Jerusalem stabbing attack, but went on to be selected for command courses, in which he stood out and excelled.
He commanded both Sayeret Golani and the Egoz Unit and fought under enemy fire in Maroun al-Ras during the 2006 Second Lebanon War. Kahane, the nephew of Rabbi Meir Kahane, later commanded the Gaza Division's southern brigade and the squad commander school's brigade.
In his current position, Kahane effectively transformed the Combat Intelligence Collection Corps into a border protection force integrating the army's mixed-gender battalions, with hundreds of female combat soldiers and officers serving under him.
