Galant to High Court: Lindenstrauss probe was illegal

Former Chief of Staff appointee appeals, calling parallel investigations by A-G, comptroller "a caricature of due process."

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Galant 311 (photo credit: IDF Spokesperson’s office)
Galant 311
(photo credit: IDF Spokesperson’s office)
Maj.-Gen. Yoav Galant appealed to the High Court on Wednesday, after Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein and State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss rejected his appointment as IDF Chief of General Staff.
Referring to the investigations by Weinstein and Lindenstrauss, Galant said: "A parallel investigation like this - on the same complaint and for the same purpose - harms each of the investigating groups."
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He added that the two were "competing...leading to the discrediting of each institution that 'lost' the competition."
On Tuesday evening, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu canceled Galant's appointment as the next army chief, because Weinstein said Galant's behavior in a land dispute in Moshoav Amikam "raise significant legal difficulties regarding the reasonability of appointing him as Chief of General Staff."
An appeal was served by Galant's lawyer, Dori Klagsblad, on Wednesday.
Galant also charged that he was not given enough time to defend himself before the comptroller, calling Lindenstrauss's investigation "a caricature of due process."
"The State Comptroller allowed the attorney-general to respond to the petition and allowed the High Court to discuss it without revealing to the attorney-general or the court that he is investigating the same manner and he has supposedly new and additional findings," Galant added, saying that Lindenstrauss does not have the authority to head such an investigation, because the law says the comptroller should not probe a matter that is being investigated in court.
In conclusion, Galant said that the comptroller's investigation is a "forbidden intrusion into an area that is solely the courts' jurisdiction."


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Micha Lindenstrauss
yoav galant