Last update - 00:00 04/02/2007
Cabinet unanimously approves Gabi Ashkenazi as new IDF chief
By Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondent
The cabinet Sunday unanimously approved the appointment of reserve major general Gabi Ashkenazi as the next Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff, replacing Dan Halutz, who resigned in the wake of criticism of his handling of the 2006 Lebanon war.
On the recommendation of Defense Minister Amir Peretz, Ashkenazi will serve a four-year term. Previous chiefs of staff had been appointed to three-year terms with the option of extending the term for another year upon completion of the three years. However, no official guideline was ever legislated regarding the term of a chief of staff.
Attorney General Menachem Mazuz has in the past called for the allotting of a uniform time frame for the term of a chief of staff.
Peretz said it is important to avoid the public debate that usually follows the third year of a chief of staff's term on whether to extend the term. According to Peretz, four years is a sound time frame for a chief of staff to make his mark upon the IDF.
At the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that Ashkenazi would "lead the IDF to full competency and achievements."
The incoming chief of staff Ashkenazi told Peretz after the cabinet's approval of his nomination "I feel that I have a serious responsibility and I hope to justify the faith that has been given to me."
In 2005, after the cabinet decided not to extend the term of then IDF chief Moshe Ya'alon and to replace him with exiting Chief of Staff Dan Halutz, Mazuz said that leaving the extension of the term up to the cabinet or the defense minister is "grinding down the public's faith in official posts."
Mazuz did not specify how long a term should be, but rather insisted the time frame be decided in advance, as is done with other senior public service positions. He cited the terms of the president, the attorney general and the state prosecutor as examples of regulated terms.