High Court: Galant appointment not delayed, for now
Green Movement's petition to stall new IDF chief of staff's appointment over land affair rejected by High Court. Petitioners: New findings will implicate him. Barak: Preparing for Galant to take over as IDF chief on time
The High Court of Justice rejected on Wednesday a Green Movement petition to issue an interim order against Yoav Galant's appointment as the new IDF chief of staff.
Later, Defense Minister Ehud Barak issued a statement in which he expressed his faith in Galant and said he was preparing for the major general to take over as IDF chief on February 14, as scheduled.
The Green Movement filed the motion in regards to the land affairs involving claims against Galant for illegally annexing land near his home.
They are now demanding that the High Court order the Turkel Committee, in charge of authorizing public service appointments, to discuss his appointment once more. They claimed his appointment was "extremely unreasonable" given the oversight of the land affairs.
Current IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi was scheduled to retire from the army on February 14 and pass the torch to newly appointed Galant. Meanwhile, the land affair is clouding the rotation.
Galant is expected to arrive at State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss's office next week for a hearing. February 1 is the last day the State Prosecutor's Office will be allowed to submit any findings regarding the affair, and by February 6 Galant and the petitioners are expected to hand in their responses to the findings.
Galant's home in Moshav Amikam (Photo: Ido Erez)
The Green Party claims that Galant had built a private parking lot and two access roads on public land, had extended his homestead plot by 350 square meters, had received an allotment of 35 dunams of agricultural land from the Israel Lands Authority (ILA) when none of the other "late-comers" to the moshav had received any land, and that he had unilaterally taken over an adjacent plot which did not belong to him, and had extended his private garden by "annexing" nearby public land.
A week ago the court instructed Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein to specify what steps have been taken regarding the 350 square meters of public land (.086 acres) that were added to Galant's property at his home in Amikam. The court also demanded a specific schedule listing exactly when this issue will be taken care of.
Methodical annexing or evil gossip?
"I see things very differently than how they appear in the media," Galant's neighbor in Amikam, Shoshi Gabizon told Ynet on Wednesday. "Yoav has always maintained a stately demeanor. Now this evidence, which is gossip, pops up again. The court will deal with the facts. He didn't enlarge his house but only planted trees in open spaces, just like the rest of the residents. This is a neighbors' quarrel, it's evil gossip backed up by people of interest. Someone is pushing this issue."
A neighbors' quarrel? Near Galant's home (Photo: Ido Erez)
"Galant has been taking over land that isn't his for years," said the Green Movement's attorney Nadav Applebaum. "He approached the ILA and was given land in a process that doesn't exist. In the beginning, Galant annexed half a hill. Later he annexed the entire hill. He vacated the land only when the High Court discussion began, and I'm guessing it wasn't done incidentally."
Applebaum added that there is another real estate affair pertaining to the Amikam home. "He illegally built himself a parking lot, and a criminal case was opened against him on counts of dispossession, during which he was ordered to vacate the premises. Eventually a compromise was reached and he was supposed to clear the area, but he didn't."
Applebaum claimed that the land in question which was annexed to Galant's backyard is about 650 square feet (0.161 acres). "His land is undefined and he extended his open yard into open public property. Galant filed a request to extend his land, but it wasn't approved and he still did his thing."
In response to the High Court's decision to reject an interim order against Galant, Applebaum said: "The court is probably waiting for the State Comptroller's findings. We believe these findings will indicate that Galant cannot be appointed the new IDF chief of staff. We are sure the court will make the right decision."
Turkel response
In response to the petition, Judge Jacob Turkel stressed he based his decisions purely on the documents brought to his attention at the time. "The committee wishes to note that at the time it discussed the appointment it reviewed all the material brought to its attention and if new facts or documents later surfaced the committee obviously could not address them."
He further added, "This is not a commission of inquiry, it does not posses the necessary means to hold a probe nor is it authorized to probe, but only give its opinion based on the material it receives."
The committee added that its members were extra careful in considering Galant's candidacy, also in the backdrop of the document forgery affair.
It noted that a judge visited the property and got a personal impression of the situation. "The committee presented the matter before the prime minister, defense minister and chief of staff and they all unanimously agreed the land issue contained nothing which could compromise his appointment."
Nir Cohen contributed to the report
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