Israeli military chief resigns

JERUSALEM – Israel’s military chief quit early yesterday over the failures of the war on Hezbollah in a second blow to the unpopular government after a graft probe was launched against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

In what several dailies called an “earthquake,” army chief of staff Dan Halutz said he wanted to assume his “responsibilities” over last summer’s 34-day war against Lebanon’s Shi’ite militia and announced his resignation. “I have accomplished the objective that was set for me at the end of the Lebanon war which was to study and learn the lessons from what transpired.I consider under the conditions it is my duty to resign my office immediately,” the lieutenant general wrote in his resignation letter.His deputy Moshe Kaplinsky was appointed to lead the Israeli military temporarily.The 58-year-old Halutz became the most senior head to roll over the conflict, which attracted withering criticism in the Jewish state after failing to achieve its main goals of freeing two seized Israeli soldiers and destroying Hezbollah.He resigned just hours after Israel’s chief prosecutor ordered a criminal graft probe against Olmert, the latest in a string of corruption scandals to hit the country’s leadership, which a leading daily recently described as “Sodom and Gomorrah.”Olmert is suspected of intervening on behalf of a friend while acting finance minister in 2005 during the privatisation of Israel’s second-largest bank.He has denied any wrong-doing.Nampa-AFP”I have accomplished the objective that was set for me at the end of the Lebanon war which was to study and learn the lessons from what transpired.I consider under the conditions it is my duty to resign my office immediately,” the lieutenant general wrote in his resignation letter.His deputy Moshe Kaplinsky was appointed to lead the Israeli military temporarily.The 58-year-old Halutz became the most senior head to roll over the conflict, which attracted withering criticism in the Jewish state after failing to achieve its main goals of freeing two seized Israeli soldiers and destroying Hezbollah.He resigned just hours after Israel’s chief prosecutor ordered a criminal graft probe against Olmert, the latest in a string of corruption scandals to hit the country’s leadership, which a leading daily recently described as “Sodom and Gomorrah.”Olmert is suspected of intervening on behalf of a friend while acting finance minister in 2005 during the privatisation of Israel’s second-largest bank.He has denied any wrong-doing.Nampa-AFP