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Senior IDF officers arrested in ‘Harpaz document’ investigation
Two senior IDF figures have been arrested and interrogated as part of a continuing police investigation over the so-called ‘Harpaz Affair.’
Former-IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. (res.) Avi Benayahu and Col. (res.) Erez Weiner, a senior aide to Gabi Ashkenazi during his time as IDF Chief of Staff were both released to five days house arrest yesterday following their arrest earlier this week. They were questioned over suspicions of conspiracy to commit a crime, fraud and breach of trust, destroying evidence and embezzlement.
Benayahu and Weiner are the first-high profile arrests made since Israel’s Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein instructed police to open a criminal investigation over the so-called ‘Harpaz affair’ in August. The affair centres on a document forged by Lt.Col. Boaz Harpaz, which first came to light in August 2010. It exacerbated serious tensions between then Defence Minister Ehud Barak and then Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi. The document, which was presented to Ashkenazi, purported to be evidence that Barak was conducting a campaign to discredit Ashkenazi and to build the credentials of Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant to succeed Ashkenazi. It was known that Ashkenazi supported an alternative candidate to succeed him as head of Israel’s armed forces.
The State Comptroller subsequently looked into the affair and its report in January 2013 revealed that relations between Ashkenazi and Barak were at times “disturbing and problematic.” It censured Ashkenazi for not having handed over the ‘Harpaz document’ sooner, while Barak was criticised for having obstructed senior IDF appointments. Ashkenazi was the IDF Chief of Staff from 2007-11 and the investigation has cast a shadow over his rumoured plans to launch a political career. Barak has since retired from the political scene.
During a hearing a Rishon LeZion magistrate’s court this week, Benayahu said he had devoted his life to the public’s security and lamented that the investigation is “being conducted on only half the playing field,” referencing that Barak and his former aides are not yet suspects in the case.