Yaakov Turkel, head of the committee which vets senior government appointments, on Monday spoke out against the decision to reject the appointment of Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant for the IDF chief of General Staff position.In an interview with Army Radio, Turkel criticized the government, saying that it made a mistake when it decided not to appoint Galant based on Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein's recommendations.RELATED:Gov't votes to cancel Galant's appointment to IDF chiefTurkel Committee approves Gantz appointmentFollowing the recommendations, the cabinet in February retracted its earlier decision to appoint Galant as chief of staff, amid allegations that he seized land near his home in Moshav Amikam. "Is it necessary to disqualify a person if both the prime minister and defense minister said he was best suited for the job?" Turkel asked. var zflag_nid='794'; var zflag_cid='1091/988'; var zflag_sid='122'; var zflag_width='300'; var zflag_height='250'; var zflag_sz='9'; Last week, Turkel also criticized State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss for opening the investigation into Galant. Speaking at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Turkel, who approved the appointment of Galant to the post, said "What happened here regarding Galant was a torpedoing that came from the outside. A situation emerged in which the state comptroller interfered in the matter and began to explore [alternative] appointees."
