Ya’alon at Defense: I feel burden of responsibility

Outgoing defense minister Ehud Barak tells Ya'alon he is "receiving a system that is in good, loyal, professional hands."

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
Barak switches with Ya'alon 370 (photo credit: Ariel Hermoni, Defense Ministry spokesman )
Barak switches with Ya'alon 370
(photo credit: Ariel Hermoni, Defense Ministry spokesman )
Moshe “Bogie” Ya’alon officially took up his new role as Israel’s defense minister on Tuesday during a ceremony at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv.
Outgoing defense minister Ehud Barak told Ya’alon, “You’re receiving a system that is in good, loyal, professional hands, which understands where we live, and where we are going.”
Barak added, “We have to fight for the things we have to fight for, and to accept the decisions when the government takes them. And then move to the other side of the table, and carry out the[required] work.
Enormous work is being done to fortify and strengthen the state’s security.”
Barak described Ya’alon as a “person who, in and out of uniform, knows where he stands, is stable, doesn’t wobble, says what he thinks, and does what he says. He is there.”
He made reference to previous disagreements with Ya’alon in the inner cabinet, but added that they had agreed to “work as a government… to sit together, to see what is right and what isn’t right to do.”
Ya’alon said that “the very fact that I knew everyone’s name at roll call – major-generals, people from the ministry of defense – is sign that I haven’t gotten very far from the security-military experience.”
The new defense minister spoke of feeling a great burden of responsibility upon taking up the position.
“I remember how I felt the load lighten when I completed my term as chief of staff, and this morning I feel the load back on my shoulders,” he said. He expressed hope that the defense community would be able to bring “security, quiet, in and in the future, perhaps, peace, in light of Israel’s power.”