Defense Minister Shimon Peres today sharply rebutted charges by Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren that the Army Chaplaincy Corps badly mishandled body retrievals during the Yom Kippur War. Peres told the Knesset that contrary to Rabbi Goren’s allegations, the Chaplaincy Corps performed “brave and devoted” service during the war although certain lessons were learned that led to a thorough reorganization of some procedures. Peres disclosed that Rabbi Goren has withdrawn a telegram he sent to the Defense Minister yesterday demanding an “independent inquiry” into his charges.
The Chief Rabbi charged that the Chaplaincy Corps had disregarded long standing directives by falling to retrieve the bodies of fallen Israeli soldiers on the Sabbath and holidays, creating a serious morale problem in the armed forces. The matter came up at yesterday’s Cabinet meeting where Rabbi Goren was rebuked for “a disgraceful effort to stir up the grief and pain of many bereaved families.” It was also the subject of several agenda motions in the Knesset today which were answered by Pores.
The Cabinet did not discuss the merits of Rabbi Goren’s charges but was sharply critical of the manner in which the Chief Rabbi made them public. He accused the Army Chaplaincy Corps of “disgraceful failure” in the conduct of its body retrieval activities in reply to a question on a radio interview program broadcast last Wednesday.
Last Friday, the Jerusalem Post disclosed that the “question” was planted by Rabbi Goren’s office and that the person who asked it, Avishai Daum, was an employe of Goren who falsely identified himself on the program as an army officer. Daum claimed that he had “seen bodies lying around unretrieved.” According to the Post, Daum is employed as director of a “conversion ulpan” recently established in Notanya by Rabbi Goren and the Jewish Agency.
CHARGES MAINLY AGAINST PIRON
Rabbi Goren, who was Chief Chaplain of the Israeli Armed Forces for 24 years with the rank of general before his election to the Chief Rabbinate three years ago, leveled his charges mainly against his successor and former protege, Chief Chaplain Mordechai Piron, He claimed that Piron ignored long standing directives that Rabbi Goren had formulated with regard to body retrievals with the result that the bodies of fallen Israeli soldiers were left to rot on the Sabbath and holidays.
Reserve officers in the Chaplaincy Corps who served during the Yom Kippur War have disputed Rabbi Goren’s charges and at least one of them has threatened a libel suit against the Chief Rabbi.
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