Ashkenazi to submit more testimony in Harpaz Affair

New evidence shows wife of former chief of General Staff mediated between Boaz Harpaz and Moshav Amikam, where Yoav Galant lives.

By YAAKOV KATZ, JOANNA PARASZCZUK, JPOST.COM ST
Ashkenazi 311 (photo credit: Channel 10)
Ashkenazi 311
(photo credit: Channel 10)
Former chief of General Staff Lt.- Gen. (res.) Gabi Ashkenazi will be summoned next week to the state comptroller's office to provide further evidence in the case of Boaz Harpaz. This comes after Channel 1 uncovered information over the weekend regarding ties between Harpaz and Gabi Ashkenazi's wife, Ronit, Army Radio reported.
Ashkenazi, who will return on Wednesday from the United States, where he has been for the past few months, previously testified in the comptroller's office on the Harpaz affair in February, according to the report.
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On Sunday, calls mounted in the IDF to launch an internal investigation into new revelations regarding the mysterious Harpaz Affair and the nature of the relationship between former chief of General Staff Lt.- Gen. (res.) Gabi Ashkenazi’s wife and Boaz Harpaz, the alleged forger of what has become known as the “Galant Document.”
Sources close to former OC Southern Command Maj.- Gen. (res.) Yoav Galant, whose appointment as chief of staff was overturned by the cabinet in February, said the revelations regarding the close relationship between Ronit Ashkenazi and Harpaz proved the need for the reopening of the police investigation into the affair.
According to the new revelation, Ronit Ashkenazi's ties with Boaz Harpaz were much closer than previously reported, including exchanging over 1,500 text messages. Ashkenazi allegedly mediated between Boaz Harpaz and residents of Moshav Amikam, where Yoav Galant lives, in order to gather information on Galant's construction projects, and even urged Harpaz to notify the media of his findings, the report said.
In 2010, Lt.-Col. (res.) Boaz Harpaz, a former intelligence officer, allegedly forged a document that detailed fictitious plans to damage the reputations of senior IDF officers.
The forged document was intended to falsely give the impression that Galant, who had been a senior candidate to become IDF chief of General Staff, had hired a PR firm to damage the reputations of other competitors for the post.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak decided to appoint Galant as the next chief of staff but the decision was overturned due to allegations that he misappropriated land near his home in Moshav Amikam, near Zichron Ya’acov.
Home Front Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said Tuesday night that, in light of recent news, he is not surprised that Defense Minister Ehud Barak did not want to extend the term of former chief of General Staff Lt.- Gen. (res.) Gabi Ashkenazi. "There was as systematic attempt here to mislead. Ashkenazi knew one thing and said something else."