Halutz to Fire General for Criticizing Disengagement
02:33 Oct 05, '06 / 13 Tishrei 5767

(IsraelNN.com) IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz plans to fire outgoing OC Ground Forces Maj.-Gen. Yiftah Ron-Tal for criticizing the army's participation in the expulsion of Jews from Gaza and its performance in the recent Lebanon war.

Ron-Tal made several critical remarks concerning Halutz and said that he should resign.

Ron-Tal also claimed that the army was unprepared for the fighting in Lebanon because it had spent so much time training for disengagement.

"The IDF, from a readiness standpoint, was well-prepared for this war," he said. "That wasn't the problem with this war...Our army last June and July was in a sufficient state of fitness to subdue Hezbollah, but the army dedicated most of its time to training for the disengagement, and therefore the training suffered."

"Did the army have to participate in the disengagement? It wasn't its job to evacuate Jews, which was non-consensual, and it, as the army of the people, was not supposed to do that," Ron-Tal said.

General Ron-Tal has only one month left of a one-year period of pre-retirement inactive service. IDF officers are not allowed to express political opinions or publicly criticize the army.