Ashkenazi will apparently assume the post ten days from now, after he concludes an overlapping transition period with outgoing Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz. Halutz announced his resignation last month, taking responsibility for the IDF's lack of success in last summer's war in Lebanon.
The appointment of Ashkenazi, while widely lauded as naming the right man at the right time, had to overcome two major hurdles: First, last week, it passed the Appointments Committee, headed by retired Supreme Court justice Yaakov Tirkel. Later, at the end of the week, the Supreme Court rejected three petitions against the appointment. The petitioners claimed that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz lacked the moral authority to name a Chief of Staff to replace one who resigned because of the war, when they themselves are under investigation for their mistakes in the same war.
The Supreme Court, however, ruled that the appointment of a Chief of Staff is totally within the purview of government authority and decisions.
Gen. Halutz was personally criticized for relying on aerial barrages in the early days of the war. The aerial attacks caused extensive damage to Lebanon's infrastructure, but failed to halt the Katyusha attacks or free the two kidnapped soldiers.
In his letter of resignation, Halutz wrote of the great sense of responsibility he assumed when he took office, and explained, "The essence of this responsibility was expressed in the fighting in Lebanon in the summer of 2006 and after it. When the battle was over, I decided to exercise my responsibilities to the fullest according to the best of the traditions from home and my army service. Accordingly, I ordered a full investigation of the fighting in a manner that is unmatched in the history of the IDF: a profound, deep, and detailed investigation, one that did not pass over me."
Halutz further explained that with the completion of the IDF investigation and the emplacement of a framework for applying its lessons, he feels he has exhausted his responsibility and therefore submits his resignation.
Maj.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, Deputy Chief of Staff from 2003 to 2005, left the IDF when he was not chosen as Chief of Staff in 2005. He thus did not take part in the expulsion of Jews from Gush Katif. In July 2006, two weeks after the Second Lebanon War broke out, he became the Defense Ministry's Director-General at the behest of Minister Peretz.
Ashkenazi joined the IDF's Golani brigade as a young recruit in 1972 and fought on the southern front in the Yom Kippur War. He participated in the Entebbe rescue raid in 1976, assumed command of a Golani Brigade battalion in 1980, and was among the commanders in the Egyptian peace treaty-mandated destruction of Yamit in the Sinai in 1982. Two months later, as Golani Deputy Commander during the Peace for Galilee War in Lebanon, he commanded the force that captured the Beaufort and Nabatiyeh. In 1987 he became Commander of the Golani Brigade, and in 1996, was promoted to the rank of Major-General, becoming Assistant to the General Staff's Operations Branch Commander. He headed the Northern Command from 1998 to 2002, overseeing the IDF's withdrawal from Lebanon.
The appointment of Ashkenazi, while widely lauded as naming the right man at the right time, had to overcome two major hurdles: First, last week, it passed the Appointments Committee, headed by retired Supreme Court justice Yaakov Tirkel. Later, at the end of the week, the Supreme Court rejected three petitions against the appointment. The petitioners claimed that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz lacked the moral authority to name a Chief of Staff to replace one who resigned because of the war, when they themselves are under investigation for their mistakes in the same war.
The Supreme Court, however, ruled that the appointment of a Chief of Staff is totally within the purview of government authority and decisions.
Gen. Halutz was personally criticized for relying on aerial barrages in the early days of the war. The aerial attacks caused extensive damage to Lebanon's infrastructure, but failed to halt the Katyusha attacks or free the two kidnapped soldiers.
In his letter of resignation, Halutz wrote of the great sense of responsibility he assumed when he took office, and explained, "The essence of this responsibility was expressed in the fighting in Lebanon in the summer of 2006 and after it. When the battle was over, I decided to exercise my responsibilities to the fullest according to the best of the traditions from home and my army service. Accordingly, I ordered a full investigation of the fighting in a manner that is unmatched in the history of the IDF: a profound, deep, and detailed investigation, one that did not pass over me."
Halutz further explained that with the completion of the IDF investigation and the emplacement of a framework for applying its lessons, he feels he has exhausted his responsibility and therefore submits his resignation.
Maj.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, Deputy Chief of Staff from 2003 to 2005, left the IDF when he was not chosen as Chief of Staff in 2005. He thus did not take part in the expulsion of Jews from Gush Katif. In July 2006, two weeks after the Second Lebanon War broke out, he became the Defense Ministry's Director-General at the behest of Minister Peretz.
Ashkenazi joined the IDF's Golani brigade as a young recruit in 1972 and fought on the southern front in the Yom Kippur War. He participated in the Entebbe rescue raid in 1976, assumed command of a Golani Brigade battalion in 1980, and was among the commanders in the Egyptian peace treaty-mandated destruction of Yamit in the Sinai in 1982. Two months later, as Golani Deputy Commander during the Peace for Galilee War in Lebanon, he commanded the force that captured the Beaufort and Nabatiyeh. In 1987 he became Commander of the Golani Brigade, and in 1996, was promoted to the rank of Major-General, becoming Assistant to the General Staff's Operations Branch Commander. He headed the Northern Command from 1998 to 2002, overseeing the IDF's withdrawal from Lebanon.