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Photo: Niv Calderon
Moshe Muskal. 'Right moral direction'
Photo: Niv Calderon
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Kaplinksy. Urged to reject appointment
Photo: Niv Kalderon

Bereaved parents: PM mustn't appoint next army chief

In letter to leading candidates for next IDF chief, bereaved parents urge them not to accept appointment until Olmert, Peretz resign

Bereaved parents called on the candidates for the position of IDF chief of staff not to accept the appointment until the Winograd Committee's interim report is published, and Defense Minister Peretz and Prime Minister Olmert resign.

 

The bereaved families' organization Parents Circle sent a letter to the three leading candidates for the position, Moshe Kaplinsky, Gaby Ashkenazy and Benny Ganz, Thursday evening.

 

In the letter the parents write, "Now of all times, when we are on the verge of the publication of the Winograd Committee's interim report, the prime minister and the defense minister insist on appointing the next army chief."

 

"You are worthy, but they are not suited to appoint you. The prime minister and the defense minister have failed one time too many, you deserve to be appointed by people who are worthy," the letter stated.

 

Members of the organization raised the concern that the appointment might be influenced by the fact that the future army chief is set to testify against Olmert and Peretz at the Winograd Committee.

 

Leaders behind 'ongoing tragedy'  

"In recent days we have been experiencing a difficult turmoil. The values we have instilled in our children – to go to the army and give their soul to it, these values are being trampled on crudely," the letter continued.

 

"Cynicism, corruption, unsuitability for the position, lack of public support…All these appalling qualities combined are embodied in the two people who make the most crucial decisions regarding our lives here," it read.

 

The parents wrote that "Ehud Olmert and Amir Peretz, the two leaders who have turned our lives and the life of the nation as a whole to an ongoing tragedy, blatantly and callously refuse to rid us of their presence, though we have suffered enough."

 

The letter concludes with the words, "We are certain that at the bottom of your heart, you also feel that any appointment coming from these prime minister and defense minister has a black flag waving above it. Please, serve as a ray of hope in this darkness, do not agree to it."

 

Moshe Muskal, who lost his son Refanel in the war in Lebanon, told Ynet, "The political echelon is not worthy of appointing a chief of staff. We saw it fitting, as parents who lost the most precious thing of all in the last war, to show the candidates in the right moral direction…We therefore appeal to them not to accept the position."

 

Prime Minister Olmert continued his round of talks regarding the appointment of an army chief Thursday evening. Olmert met with Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer and is set to meet former Prime Minister Ehud Barak later on.

 


פרסום ראשון: 01.18.07, 23:10
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