Galant: I didn't lie and I don't intend on resigning
State comptroller's findings on IDF chief-designate reveal multiple improprieties in land dealings that could derail appointment.
By JPOST EDITORIALUpdated: MARCH 27, 2018 12:05Galant 311(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
IDF Chief of Staff-designate Yoav Galant denied the findings of the state comptroller about improprieties in his land dealings, telling associates "I didn't lie and I don't intend on resigning."Earlier on Thursday, State Comptroller Micha Lindenstraus said Galant lied to Hadera Magistrate's Court in a sworn affidavit when he said he had asked for permission to exceed his building rights by 40 square meters before building the additional floor space.In his examination of Galant's land dealings, Lindenstraus found that Galant had requested the building permit retroactively, after the structure had been built.Galant acknowledged that mistakes were made in the land dealings in Moshav Amikam."There were two errors found in the thousands of documents that were checked. I didn't get anything out of the affidavits and the letters," Channel Ten quoted Galant as saying. He added that he intends to send further information to Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein on Sunday to help clarify the issue.Galant said that he was "convinced that there is nothing that can block the appointment to chief of General Staff."Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday responded to the state comptroller's findings, saying that only Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein was authorized to make decisions on the future of Galant's appointment.The Prime Minister's Office emphasized that no action regarding Galant's appointment to chief of Staff would be taken prior to Weinstein's decision.Likud minister Michael Eitan on Thursday harshly criticized Galant for improprieties he carried out in land dealings in an interview with Channel Two.Eitan said that Galant's appointment to chief of General Staff should not be allowed to continue because he acted like a "mafioso" in his treatment of local officials who he received preferential treatment from because of his position to cover up unlawful behavior.
The Likud minister did not blame Netanyahu or Defense Minister Ehud Barak for choosing an unworthy candidate to head the IDF, but rather he blamed the Turkel Committee for not properly investigating Galant.Lindenstrauss wrote that the authorities gave Galant special treatment because of his high status and that this was an expression of the improper administrative culture of the Israel Lands Authority officials which granted him these favors. This behavior should be investigated separately, he recommended.In a response to the state comptroller's findings, the Green Movement, which petitioned against Galant's appointment as incoming chief-of-staff, said that the state comptroller's investigation not only disclosed the false affidavit that Galant submitted to the court, but also displayed a "very disturbing picture of a man who systematically shifts the responsibility to others."Weinstein must now decide, on the basis of the state comptroller's findings, whether to defend Galant's appointment in the High Court against the Green Movement's petition.
