The outgoing commander of Israel’s air force, Maj. Gen. Avihu Bin-Nun, has apologized publicly for sharply criticizing government decision-making on defense matters.
Bin-Nun attacked the government’s indecisiveness on defense issues in an as-yet-unpublished interview with the monthly air force journal, excerpts of which were printed by the local press Wednesday.
One example he cited, according to The New York Times, was the last-minute cancellation of air strikes that had been ordered against Iraq in response to its Scud missile attacks on Israel during the Persian Gulf War.
Bin-Nun hinted that Israel’s policy of restraint was its own decision, rather than a surrender to U.S. pressure in order to preserve Arab membership in the coalition against Iraq.
The Israeli media concentrated on the upbraiding given Bin-Nun, a much-decorated 52-year-old former fighter pilot, by the Israel Defense Force chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Ehud Barak.
Barak accused him of damaging relations between the military and political establishments in Israel, which is not tolerated from an active duty officer.
A statement issued by the IDF on Wednesday indicated that Bin-Nun might have been dismissed on the spot were he not due to retire shortly.
In those circumstances, his apology was accepted without “additional steps,” the statement said.
The article is scheduled for publication in an edition of the air force monthly that will appear after the general doffs his uniform. It is, in fact, his valedictory.
Bin-Nun observed in his letter of apology that “the things that were said should not be uttered by a uniformed officer.”
He said he “had no intentions of offending anyone” and charged that “omissions made in the excerpted text made the remarks seem harsher than they really were.”
He also accused the media of taking his statements out of context. But he did not retract what was published.
U.S. HAD CONTINGENCY PLAN
Bin-Nun charged that the decision-making processes in Israel are “not clear enough or orderly enough. In the fields with which I am familiar, there isn’t enough proper government order.
“Too many decisions are taken late and there are decisions which are never taken,” he said.
“The Israeli army doesn’t receive policy directives from the defense viewpoint. Without them, chaos is created. We know the scenario: A year after starting a big project, they come and say we haven’t the budget,” Bin-Nun said.
He referred to a decision in 1987 to scrap the Lavi, an Israeli-built jet fighter plane, after investing seven years and $1.5 billion in its design and construction of prototypes.
The Lavi, however, was financed by U.S. military grants and was abandoned under U.S. pressure, in favor of purchasing more U.S.-made combat aircraft.
The most sensational aspect of Bin-Nun’s article was his claim that the United States was prepared to allow Israel to retaliate for the Iraqi Scud attacks, which it absorbed with considerable property damage but no loss of life.
According to the air force commander, there was an American “contingency plan” to clear the air space over Iraq to permit Israeli jets to attack without encountering U.S. fighter aircraft.
In Washington, the Pentagon said it was unaware of such a plan.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
