Tamir. Nothing personal
Photo: Ofer Amram
Fares. The moor has done his duty?
Photo: Shaul Golan
Druze slam IDF's 'racial discrimination'
Military appeals court's decision not to demote Brigadier-General Moshe Tamir for lying to commanders angers association of veteran Druze officers, after Brigadier-General Imad Fares forced to retire from army over similar incident
Druze officers on Wednesday protested a military appeals court's decision not to demote former Gaza Division Commander Brigadier-General Moshe Tamir, who allowed his 14-year-old son to drive an army ATV
and attempted to cover up the incident after the boy collided with a civilian vehicle.
Fares had reported that he had been with his wife in his military vehicle while she had a small accident with it, but several hours later he had admitted that he had not been in the car at the time of the accident.
The officers demanded that Brigadier-General Imad Fares, who retired from the Israel Defense Forces following a similar incident, would also be allowed to return to the army's top brass. They said the court's decision to accept Tamir's appeal was a case of harsh discrimination and racism.
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"There should be no misunderstandings here," said Captain (Res.) Samir Wahabe, secretary of the association of veteran Druze officers in Israel. "The two cases are similar, but in one case the officer was acquitted and in the other he was convicted. How is this possible?
"It's unthinkable that the IDF does not have the same justice for everyone, that there is a distinction between one officer and another. We won't allow pure racism here."
The association plans to send a letter of protest to the defense minister, IDF chief of staff and Knesset members.
Fares resigned from the army after being caught lying to his commanders. IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi criticized his actions, and the Chief Military Advocacy has yet to decide whether to indict him. Fares said Tuesday evening that he would be interested to return to the army.
Wahabe stressed that the Druze officers' anger was not personally directed at Brigadier-General Tamir. "We congratulate him on his acquittal and believe that he, like Imad, is a talented officer who must continue serving in the IDF, but we won't allow his fate to be different from that of Imad."
The Druze officer called on the IDF chief to practice "one justice for all. Enough with the attitude of 'the moor has done his duty, the moor may go. It's unthinkable that there is one black officer and one white officer. What has been done here is injustice which will have consequences. A state of anarchy is beginning here and it's unacceptable to us. It's a shame that we should be pushed to such corners."
According to Wahabe, "We want a national leader to step up and say, 'That's enough.'"
