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Major-General Yair Naveh . The next deputy chief of staff?
Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit
Former Meretz leader Shulmit Aloni
Photo: Yaron Brener

Leftists: Naveh involved in 'illegal killings'

Shulamit Aloni, Nathan Zach and others object appointment of new IDF deputy chief of staff, claiming he's 'not morally suitable'. In High Court petition, they accuse him of illegal targeted killings while serving as central command chief

Only three days have past since Major-General Yair Naveh returned to his army uniform as the new Israel Defense Forces deputy chief of staff, but on Sunday he received  a chilled welcome as several left-wing activists and intellectuals petitioned the High Court of Justice against him.

 

The leftists claimed in their petition that when Naveh served as Central Command chief, he was responsible for targeted killings considered illegal by the High Court and international law.

 

Among the petitioners are former Meretz leader Shulamit Aloni, former Knesset Member Mossi Raz, founding member of Gush Shalom (independent peace movement) Uri Avnery, poet Nathan Zach and photographer Alex Levac. They were joined by the left-wing organizations Yesh Gvul and Gush Shalom.

 

The petitioners claimed that debriefings published in the past based on IDF files' findings state that Naveh, as well as other IDF officials, allegedly confirmed the assassinations and targeted killings of wanted persons, who could have otherwise been arrested, even though their killing cost the lives of innocent people.

 

They insisted that these actions were done "in complete contradiction to the principles set by the High Court and entirely against the international law and the Israeli law." These accusations, added petitioners, were never refuted by Naveh, who served as Central Command Chief in 2005-2007.

 

Due to these accusations, the petitioners criticized the Defense Minister Ehud Barak's decision to appoint Naveh as new deputy chief of staff, calling it "extremely unreasonable legally and not morally suitable."

 

Just last month the poet Nathan Zach, one of the petitioners, stirred up a public discussion when he said he was "willing to volunteer" for the Gaza flotilla and harshly criticizing government policy.

 

"The cruelty of oppression has penetrated us," he explained at the time. "Not a day goes by when people don't get murdered here. The violence on the roads and in schools began with the occupation."

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 11.28.10, 13:22
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