Major General Gabi Ashkenazi pictured in March 1999. Ashkenazi is awaiting final confirmation as Israel's new army chief of staff after his predecessor quit over the handling of last summer's war in Lebanon.(AFP/GPO Files)
Posted on 01/24/2007 12:51:58 PM PST by NormsRevenge
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Major General Gabi Ashkenazi is awaiting final confirmation as Israel's new army chief of staff after his predecessor quit over the handling of last summer's war in Lebanon.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office announced the appointment of the 52-year-old Ashkenazi, currently director general of the defence ministry, late on Monday night.
"After consultations between the prime minister and Defence Minister Amir Peretz, it was decided that... General Gabi Ashkenazi be named the 19th chief of staff of the Israeli army," the premier's office said in a statement.
The nomination must be confirmed by the cabinet and a legal commission before it becomes effective, but this is regarded as a formality.
Ashkenazi will assume charge of an Israeli army in crisis after a disappointing performance in last summer's 34-day war against the Shiite Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.
"(Ashkenazi) has accepted command of the IDF (army) during one of its most difficult low periods," Israel's daily Maariv newspaper wrote on Tuesday.
"Ashkenazi's appointment will breathe new life into the dispirited IDF."
The newspaper cited the high likelihood of renewed hostilities between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip and against the Shiite Hezbollah militia in Lebanon as two challenges the new chief of staff is likely to face, in addition to the looming Iranian nuclear threat.
Ashkenazi's predecessor, Lieutenant General Dan Halutz, resigned from the post on January 17.
Halutz had become a lightning rod for criticism of the ill-fated military campaign launched after Hezbollah fighters seized two soldiers along Israel's border with Lebanon.
The July-August conflict failed to achieve either of its stated goals of freeing the men or stopping Hezbollah rocket fire.
These failures generated a public outcry against the country's senior leaders, including Halutz, Olmert and Defence Minister Amir Peretz. Olmert and Peretz continue to fend off calls that they join Halutz in stepping down.
Ashkenazi became the sole candidate for the job after the deputy chief of staff, Major General Moshe Kaplinsky, announced on Sunday that he was taking himself out of the running, press reports said.
Ashkenazi joined the elite Golani infantry brigade in 1972, rising through the ranks to become its commander in 1986.
In 1976 he toook part in a daring commando raid that rescued Jewish passengers taken hostage after an Air France flight was hijacked and flown to Entebbe, Uganda. He was wounded in 1978 in a military operation in Lebanon.
He was named commander of Israel's northern military region in 1998 and deputy chief of staff in 2002. He resigned from that post three years later when Halutz was given the top job, and moved to the defence ministry.
Ashkenazi is married and has two children.
Meanwhile, former army chief of staff Moshe Yaalon, who left the post in 2005, told a conference on national security in the northern town of Herzliya that the army's failures in Lebanon were the result of bad policy, not systemic problems within the military.
"The difficulties that were revealed... do not stem, I believe, from fundamental problems but were a result of failed diplomatic and military policies, and therefore I think the IDF will rehabilitate itself very quickly with the coming changes in its leadership."
Major General Gabi Ashkenazi pictured in March 1999. Ashkenazi is awaiting final confirmation as Israel's new army chief of staff after his predecessor quit over the handling of last summer's war in Lebanon.(AFP/GPO Files)
a couple links from 1/22/07
Infantry Officer Named Israeli Army Head ^
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1771802/posts
Veteran Of Entebbe To Lead Forces In Israel ^
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1771956/posts
Halutz had become a lightning rod for criticism of the ill-fated military campaign launched after Hezbollah fighters seized two soldiers along Israel's border with Lebanon.It's fine for the Israeli's to blame the general if they want, but who called off the attacks? Who brought the soldiers back home before the missions were accomplished? Was it the general who did that? Or the civilian leadership?The July-August conflict failed to achieve either of its stated goals of freeing the men or stopping Hezbollah rocket fire.
I think Nentanyahu (spelling?) was at the Entebbe raid as well (or was it one of the Nentanyahu brothers?) , if memory serves. Get rid of the current pussy prime minister, and put Nentanyahu in there. Then go back into Lebanon, and wherever else is necessary, and ANNIHILATE the terrorist ragheaded bastards.
Actually it was Bibi Netheruyu older brother who got kill on the raid he was only guy that got kill
Actually it was Bibi Netheruyu older brother who got kill on the raid he was only guy that got kill
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
It's hard to believe it was 30 years ago.. just shows how far we have come down the road to peace in the middle East. ;-)
Just as a correction... his name is Netanyahu.
Thanks for the correction. I was close, but get no cigar.
Ping!
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