Israeli Chief of Staff Halutz resigns

The dominos continue to fall in Israel.

The latest casualty is IDF Chief Of Staff Dan Halutz, who resigned late yesterday, our time. In his letter of resignation Halutz said that with the completion of the military investigation by ex-general Dan Shomron into the outcome of the Lebanon war, he held himself accountable and was resigning.

This is one more nail into the coffin of the Olmert regime, and intensified the widespread public demand for PM Ehud Olmert and defense minister Amir Peretz to admit responsibility and resign as well...although in Olmert's case, he might end up resigning anyway in order to serve a prison term.

former Shin Bet director and Labor MK Ami Ayalon said that the Halutz resignation should be an `example to the heads of government' and was a key step towards the reformation and recovery of the IDF after the Lebanon debacle. Ayalon and many others have gone on record that the Halutz appointment as chief of staff by the Sharon government in 2005 was a politically motivated appointment, and something that must must not be repeated. Halutz replaced Lt. General Moshe Yaalon, who was fired by Sharon for opposing the withdrawal from Gaza and the ethnic cleansing of the Jewish communities there.

This kind of political meddling with the Tzahal had never happened before in Israel's history. Of course, in view of what Gaza has become, it appears that Yaalon knew what he was talking about.

In his investigation, Shomron also criticized the decision by Olmert and foreign minister Tzipi Livni to leave the monitoring of the arms embargo and the prevention of Hezbollah's rearmament to UNIFIL and the Lebanese army. Since the war ended last August, he reported, Hezoallah has esentially brought its missile threat back to the pre-war level.