Who is Yoav Galant?
By YAAKOV KATZ The Jerusalem Post 08/22/2010 17:40
www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=185608
Former Navy commander planned and directed Operation Cast Lead in 2009.
While appointed amid controversy, Maj.-Gen. Yoav Galant, tapped as the next
IDF chief of General Staff, will make history when he takes up the post in
several months.
Galant, 51, is the first chief of staff to come from the Navy, which he
joined in 1977 as a young commando in Flotilla 13, better known as the
Shayetet. Galant completed navy officer training and commanded over a
missile ship. In between he took off some time to travel during which he
worked as a lumberjack in Alaska.
But Galant made history as one of the first navy officers in 1993 to turn in
his white Navy uniform for the greens of the regular army when he was
appointed commander of the Jenin Brigade. He then returned to the Navy to
command over the Shayetet but three years later left the Navy once again for
good when he was appointed commander of the Gaza Division.
In 2001 he was appointed deputy head of the Ground Forces Command and a year
later received the rank of major general and began working alongside
then-prime minister Ariel Sharon as his military secretary. In 2005, just
after the disengagement from the Gaza Strip, Galant took over as head of the
Southern Command, a position he will likely hold for the next several months
close to the date he takes over as the IDF's 20th chief of staff.
A strong charismatic commander with vast field and combat experience, Galant
is well respected throughout the IDF.
A recent highlight of his career was Operation Cast Lead in January 2009
which he planned and directed. While the operation brought Israel under
harsh international criticism demonstrated by the Goldstone Report, Galant
can though be credited with overseeing an operation that has fundamentally
changed the reality along the border with the Gaza Strip. While rockets are
occasionally still fired into Israel, there is today - some 20 months after
the operation - unprecedented quiet in the South.
Galant's detractors accuse him of becoming politicized during the period he
spent as Sharon's military secretary and the close ties he forged there with
some of the prime minister's other close associates like Eyal Arad, the
public relations consultant whose company's logo was featured on the
apparently forged "Galant Document."
On the other hand, his experience there exposed him to the ins and outs of
Israeli policy making, made him familiar with diplomatic and government
mechanisms.
Operation Cast Lead also contributed to Galant's positive image within the
IDF. He insisted on visiting the Gaza Strip during the operation and
spending time with battalion and company commanders in the field.
His relations with the Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, the current chief of staff,
grew tense during Operation Cast Lead when the two supposedly clashed over
whether to stop or continue the operation. Galant was in favor of pushing
deeper into Gaza. Ashkenazi was more hesitant and preferred not to overly
pressure the government one way or another. The two continued to clash
following the operation when Ashkenazi refused to appoint Galant as his
deputy.
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