Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein ordered Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Monday put a hold on the internal committee of inquiry he had appointed to investigate the conduct of the top army brass involved in a forged document affair concerning the incoming Israel Defense Forces chief of staff.
The move comes a day after the cabinet approved the appointment of GOC Southern Command Yoav Galant as the IDF’s 20th chief of staff, to take over in February.
Leaked to Channel 2 television from inside the military, the document bore the logo of a well-known public relations adviser and outlined a plan for Galant to smear rivals for the post of army chief.
Boaz Harpaz, suspected of being the man behind the Galant document, admitted to police investigators last week that he had forged the controversial document. Hapraz told investigators that he had forged the document following Barak’s decision to announce the next IDF chief ahead of the scheduled date, in what Harpaz thought was a "manipulation" against incumbent Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi.
Only Improvement of Government Services Minister Michael Eitan opposed the appointment. He criticized the chief of staff-designate for his behavior as a "mafioso" during his tenure as GOC Southern Command. Eitan referred to a real estate affair involving Galant at Amikam, the moshav where the general lives, and the report prepared by the deputy attorney general, Mike Blass.
Prior to Weinstein’s order, the defense minister had asked the Brick Committee investigating the affair to present its conclusions by October 7.