Defense Minister Ezer Weizman denounced as base the attacks by former Chief of Staff Gen. Mordechai Gur on his decision to recall Brig. Gen (Res.) Yisrael Tal to active duty to head the newly formed, integrated Ground Forces Command. Weizman discussed the issue at today’s Cabinet meeting and his views seemed to have the support of Premier Menachem Begin. Gur has recently become active in Labor Party politics.
Weizman said he had wanted to dismiss Gur as Chief of Staff in November, 1977 when the general made critical public statements about President Anwar Sadat’s visit to Jerusalem. In the past few weeks, Gur has criticized the recall of Tal and the Ground Forces Command idea in general in a series of radio on television appearances and in newspaper articles.
In an “open letter” to Tal published in Davar Friday, Gur accused the veteran tank corps commander of failure as Deputy Chief of Staff before and during the Yom Kippur War. “You showed that despite your achievements as a tank general you are not suited to higher command,” Gur wrote. Implicit in Gur’s attacks is the allegation that Tal dodged his responsibilities after the Yom Kippur War when he testified against his superior, Gen. David Elazar, before the Agranat Committee. That panel, investigating Israel’s lack of prepared ness in October 1973 and its initial battlefield setbacks, subsequently ordered Elazar relieved of his duties.
Weizman noted that no general, except Gur himself who was the Israeli Military Attache in Washington at the time, could be entirely free of questioning with regard to his role in the war and the events immediately preceding it. He said he had examined the Agranut report in detail and found nothing that would disqualify Gen. Tal.
Military observers believe Tal’s return to active duty after six years in the reserves will put him in a position to succeed the present Chief of Staff, Gen. Raphael Eitan, whose term expires in 1981. Tal is known as a political dove among Israel’s senior military officers. Gur, for his part, is a rising star in the Labor Party firmanent. But observers believe his open attacks on the army and on Tal will do him little good politically. Labor Party chairman Shimon Peres has implicitly dissociated himself from Gur’s views, declaring that military issues should be kept out of the political arena.
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