Dan Chalutz

Dan Chalutz

Dan Chalutz ^{? / i} (Hebrew דן חלוץ, also Dan Halutz ; * August 7, 1948 in Tel Aviv ) is an Israeli general . Chalutz was Commander of the Israeli Air Force (IAF) from 2000 to 2004 and from June 1, 2005 to January 17, 2007 the 18th Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (Tzahal). On January 17, 2007, he asked Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to be released and took responsibility for mistakes made in the 2006 Lebanon War .

Life

Chalutz's parents immigrated to Israel from Iran . He grew up in the Moshav Chagor in Sharon Valley and went to school in Petach Tikwa and Cholon , studied at Tel Aviv University and graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics . Chalutz is married and has three children (two boys and one girl).

Military career

Chalutz joined the IAF in 1966 and graduated from Aviation School in 1968. In 1969 he joined the first F-4 Phantom - squadron at the IAF. Chalutz flew 40 sorties during the Egyptian- Israeli war of wear and tear . After the war he left the army to study, but returned to the Tzahal when the Yom Kippur War began in 1973. During this war he flew 43 sorties during which he shot down three enemy planes in close combat.

In 1978 he left the Tzahal and served as a reservist for four years, but returned again in 1982 and was trained on the new F-16 . In 1986 he commanded the Phantom Squadron and became head of the IAI Lavi , a project to develop Israeli jets . After this project was abandoned due to financial problems, he was appointed commander of the Chazor military airfield in 1991.

In 1993 he was promoted to brigadier general and appointed head of the air unit. In 1995 he was appointed head of the Air Force Headquarters. His career continued with his appointment as major general in 1998 and 1999 as head of the operational part of the Tzahal General Staff. In 2000, he was appointed commander of the Israeli Air Force. He commanded the IAF during the al-Aqsa intifada . His main merit is the increased cooperation between the air force, the ground forces and the domestic secret service Schin Bet , the use of drones , the increased use of precision weapons and a reduction in accidents in the air force. Under his leadership, the IAF participated in several targeted killings of Palestinian leaders. Few accidents occurred during Chalutz's tenure, none of which were fatal. On the other hand, there were increased civil losses among the Palestinian population.

In 2004 he became Vice Chief of Staff . On June 1, 2005 he was appointed eighteenth chief of staff of the Tzahal and promoted to lieutenant general. This makes him the first chief of staff since the 1970s who is not a member of the paratroopers .

Chalutz is convinced that Palestinian terrorism can be defeated militarily. He also does not want to rule out the military solution to the nuclear threat posed by Iran in the event of the failure of the European initiative. In contrast to Mofaz, Chalutz is a proponent of the Sharon Plan . He is the first Chief of Staff to come from the Air Force, the third from a Sephardic family (after David Elazar and Schaul Mofaz) and the oldest to date.

In January 2007 he assumed responsibility for mistakes made in the 2006 Lebanon War and asked Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to be released. The morning after Chalutz had informed Olmert, he spoke to the members of the General Staff and promised a smooth handover of command to his successor. Until this was established, the Deputy Chief of Staff Moshe Kaplinski took over the official business.

Chalutz during the al-Aqsa Intifada

Under Chalutz's leadership of the Israeli Air Force, F-15E and F-16 were purchased, capable of strategic bombing in all weather conditions. Unmanned drones have also been used increasingly for reconnaissance.

Under his leadership, targeted killings of Palestinian leaders accused of terrorism increased under international law. He came under criticism because during these missions uninvolved civilians were repeatedly killed.

In August 2002 the IAF dropped a one-ton bomb on a building where the leader of the Qassam Brigades Salah Shehade was located. Shehade was killed, along with 14 other people. Israel apologized, but the attack was justified with the need to stop the "ticking bomb". The pilot was subsequently accused of war crimes by Israeli left-wing activists and several journalists . The Gush Shalom peace initiative threatened to hand over the pilots to the International Court of Justice . Chalutz, who tried to protect his subordinates, gave an interview on August 21, 2002 with the Israeli daily Haaretz . In it he said to his pilots:

[To pilots] "Boys, (...) you can sleep well at night. I sleep well too, by the way. You are not the ones choosing the goals, and you haven't chosen them in this case either. You are not responsible for the content of the mission. Your mission execution was perfect. Excellent. And I repeat it again: there is no problem with you. You did exactly what you were told to do. You haven't deviated from it a millimeter to the right or left. And everyone who has a problem with it is invited to me. "

When asked whether the mission was a moral mistake because of the high civilian losses, Chalutz replied that the planning involved moral considerations, but that mistakes or accidents did not change the character of the mission. He was also asked whether there would be any changes in the planning of future missions with regard to the dead civilians. His answer to that was:

"Definitely no. Nothing will change and there is no need to change anything. "

When asked about the feelings of the executing pilots or his own when he drops a bomb, he said:

“No, that is not a legitimate question and will not be asked. But if you still want to know what I feel when I drop a bomb, I'll tell you: I feel a slight bump on the plane as a result of the bomb being dropped. A second later, it's over and that's all. Thats what I feel."

In the same interview, Chalutz condemned the leftist groups who accused the pilots and called for them to be charged with treason :

“Are these the people the Israeli Air Force fight for every day? All these deeply sad people who have the cheek to use mafia methods and blackmail the pilots - I don't remember that they ever threatened to extradite one of the terrorists, the terrorists who killed many Israeli civilians, to The Hague . What I have to say about these people is: This is a democracy in which everyone can say what their opinion is. But [it allows] not to be a traitor. "

[Interviewer asks] "Are you implying that the members of the Gush Shalom who made these comments should be charged with treason?"

[Chalutz replies] “We need to find the right clause in the law to indict them in Israel. Yes. You wanted to talk to me about morality, and I say that a state that does not protect itself acts immorally. A state that does not stand by its fighters will not survive. Fortunately, the State of Israel stands by its fighters. This vocal but negligible minority recalls dark times in the history of the Jewish people when a minority among us surrendered our people. Who would have thought that pilots of the Air Force would find their cars sprayed with primitive graffiti because of a mission? "

Chalutz's harsh remarks sparked a public dispute from the Israeli left. The political right as well as the center backed Chalutz by claiming that he was under an obligation not to harm innocent civilians, but not at the cost of the lives of innocent Israelis. Other critics questioned whether the views he expressed in this interview corresponded to the commandment of the purity of the Tzahal weapons .

Following Chalutz's appointment as vice chief of staff of the Tzahal, Israeli peace activists ( Israeli Peace Camp ), together with the conscientious objectors Yesh Gvul , petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court to prevent the appointment. Excerpts from the interview were enclosed with the application.

The judges ruled that Chalutz must state his views on the interview in a statement. Chalutz complied and replied as follows:

“I am saddened by the fact that innocent civilians and innocent children were killed. I regret that. (...) [A principle of the Air Force] is to use the minimum amount of force necessary to accomplish the mission. (…) If anyone involved in the operation knew that the consequences would be tragic - the operation would be canceled [or postponed]. Proof of this is that the operation has been postponed several times because of information about possible innocents in the vicinity of the terrorist Salah Shehade. I attach great importance to the question of the division of responsibility between the commander and his subordinates, between pilots and those who send them on missions, and therefore I have told (them) to sleep well at night. "

In 2005, the Israeli Supreme Court accepted Chalutz's response and denied the request.

In response to Shaul Mofaz's announcement that he would make Chalutz chief of staff of the Tzahal, the Meretz-Jachad party and the Arab members of the Knesset (Israeli parliament) condemned this decision. Members of the right and central wings welcomed his appointment and condemned the left wing for objecting to Chalutz. Knesset member Gideon Sa'ar ( Likud ) said Chalutz's appointment was a success for the far left.

Lebanon War 2006

Alleged insider trading

On August 15, 2006, it became known that Chalutz had sold around € 21,500 of his investment portfolio three hours after Hezbollah kidnapped two Israelis , which sparked the 2006 Lebanon War . While this act on the part of the Chief of Staff is legal and such transactions are only prohibited to ministers , the Ombudsman Micha Lindenstrauss had called for this regulation to be extended to the Chief of General Staff and other leading members of the government, as they can also have insider knowledge of upcoming events and also with insider dealing can take advantage of.

Several members of the Knesset had called for Chalutz's resignation, and some members of the Israeli general staff had said the resignation was inevitable. On August 17, Chalutz officially refused to resign over the affair , describing the motives behind the publication of the deals as "malicious and devious. I don't know who is behind this. I don't intend to be drawn to such a level [in such a way] to question my integrity. ”The Army Press Office spokesman stated,“ The Chief of Staff runs his family's financial affairs every day like any other Israeli. Routine banking is one of these matters ... ”. Chalutz confirmed the volume and timing of the sale, but stated that the sale was independent of the kidnapping of the two Israeli soldiers and criticized the disclosure of personal financial information about him.

Results and resignation of Chalutz

The main goals of the 34-day Israeli offensive under Chalutz, to free the two kidnapped Israeli soldiers and to crush the Hezbollah militia, were not achieved. Instead, Hezbollah emerged from the conflict at least politically stronger. The militia managed to fire more than 4,000 rockets into northern Israel, killing 39 Israelis. In total there were more than 1,300 deaths on both sides. Chalutz then submitted his resignation six months after the end of the war on January 17, 2007 and admitted to having made mistakes. The investigation report on the 2006 Lebanon War had not yet been published at this point in time, but it had already become known that he would severely criticize Chalutz. When a preliminary version was published on April 30, 2007, Chaltuz was accused of not paying sufficient attention to the importance of the Katyusha rockets launched by Hezbollah on Israeli territory . He would have forced the cabinet to accept his decisions without presenting sufficient alternatives to his submitted plans. In addition, he had prevented critical voices from the army from publishing alternative opinions regarding the military plans.

Web links

• Article by Ulrich W. Sahm about Chalutz, 2006
• Interview in the Haaretz, 2002 (engl.)

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1. ↑ ^{a b} Haaretz : IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz announces his resignation ( memento of the original from January 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. January 17, 2007; English 
2. ↑ Haaretz : In letter of resignation, Halutz says IDF 'unappreciated' by public ( Memento of the original from January 21, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. January 17, 2007; English 
3. ↑ Yeshgvul: www.yeshgvul.org.il
4. ↑ taz : Halutz chair tilts August 16, 2006
5. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung : Israeli Chief of Staff resigned January 17, 2007
6. ^ Haaretz : Winograd committee: We won't call for resignations, let the public decide April 30, 2007

predecessor	Office	successor
Eitan Ben Elijahu	Commanders of the Israeli Air Force 2000–2004	Eljezer Schkedi
Moshe Jaalon	Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces 2005–2007	Moshe Kaplinski (acting)