Hananel Dayan (top) wants back to his unit
Halutz
Photo: Amir Cohen
Snubbing soldier demands reinstatement
Hananel Dayan, the commended soldier who refused to shake Chief of Staff Dan Halutz’s hand during Independence Day ceremony, threatens to petition the High Court if not reinstated to his unit. Soldier’s attorney: 'there was no violation'
Staff-Sergeant Hananel Dayan, the solider who was dismissed from his duties after publicly refusing to shake the hand of Chief of Staff Dan Halutz during a ceremony for excelling soldiers at the President’s Residence on Independence Day, demanded on Sunday an apology from Halutz and to be reinstated to his unit.
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Adi Keidar, the soldier's attorney, threatened that if Chief of Staff will not do so within three days, he will petition the High Court on the issue of the soldier's dismissal.
Keidar sent a letter on Sunday to the Chief of Staff, with copies to the IDF's head of the Personnel Directorate and other addressees, demanding to reinstate the solider and "to fix all the distortions that were published in the media on this issue."
Keidar: "If the soldier is not reinstated we will petition the High Court for several reasons: First, in legal-military terms there was no violation. There is no order that he must shake hands. He must salute, and he did. Additionally, the dismissal procedure was erroneous – the brigade commander dismissed the soldier for no reason. He was supposed to face disciplinary trial."
Moreover, Keidar said that the IDF has no legal right to revoke the excellence award given to Hananel as it was granted at a civil ceremony that took place at the President Residence, and it was President Moshe Katsav who gave out the awards.
Solider refused to apologize
Dayan was ejected from the Barak Division last Friday and was dismissed of his combat duties. The decision was made by Colonel Moshe Sheetrit, the division commander, after he spoke with the soldier and with the battalion commander and in light of the fact that solider refused to apologize to Halutz after the incident. IDF officials said that the army views this behavior as a political protest that has no place among people who wear uniforms.
The ruling on whether to revoke the commendation the soldier received will be taken by Katsav, as the ceremony was initiated by him. At the same time, the president will also consider the recommendations of IDF officers, among them head of the Personnel Directorate Major General Elazar Stern, who has yet to decide on the matter. It seems that the recommendation will be to revoke the soldier’s excellence award, after the president himself berated the solider during the ceremony itself.
