Galant case: Barak commends police

Defense Minisiter Ehud Barak comended the police for a quick and proffesional investigation into the 'Galant Document' during a telephone conversation Friday with Israel Police Insp.-Gen. Dudi Cohen and Yoav Segalovitch, who heads the police investigations and intelligence department.

Barak said that the quick actions of the police meant that attempts to disrupt the investigation could be avoided.

RELATED:Barak to resume interviews for IDF headState: We don't need Channel 2's copyAnalysis: ‘In the care of worthy commanders’Barak's comments came after authorities issued an arrest warrant against the suspected forger of the Galant document.

The suspect is a mid-ranking IDF officer who is currently overseas, having left the country around the time the document was leaked. Police say he will be questioned upon his return. The Galant scandal was revived Friday when Col. Gabi Siboni, a close friend of OC Northern Command Maj.-Gen Gadi Eisencott, admitted to leaking the Galant document to Channel 2.

The admission just after police declared the document to be a forgery, clearing all candidates for the IDF chief of staff position of charges and presumably ending the affair.

According to reports, Siboni claims the document is authentic, and although he leaked it he said had no part in its creation. The Galant affair involved a document leaked to Channel 2 which detailed a PR campaign to secure the chief of staff position for Maj.-Gen Yoav Galant.

The Galant document has caused an uproar since it was released on August 6, hindering the selection process for the next IDF chief of staff and sowing discord and public unease with the IDF.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called on the IDF on Wednesday to “stop dealing with the investigation" and return to military matters.

Police attempted to conclude the affair to relieve pressure on senior IDF figures, announcing Thursday evening that the document was a forgery and they would focus their efforts on finding the culprit.

“There is no basis to suspect Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi of being involved in drawing up the document,” police said, adding that all of the major candidates for the position of chief of General Staff have also been cleared of involvement.

Barak was scheduled to interview the five leading candidates to fill the IDF's top position on Friday: OC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant, OC Northern Command Maj.-Gen. Gadi Eisencott, deputy CGS Maj. Gen. Benny Gantz, OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Avi Mizrahi and IDF attache in Washington, Gadi Shamni.