Israel's chief of staff, Dan Halutz, faced calls for his resignation yesterday after it emerged he had sold a $27,000 (€21,200) investment portfolio just three hours after two Israeli soldiers were abducted on Israel's northern border on July 12th by Hizbullah - the event that triggered the month-long conflict that ended with Monday's truce.
With three soldiers dead in the raid and an attempted rescue operation under way, the daily Maariv reported, the army chief found time to order his bank to sell his shares. Later in the day, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert decided to launch an offensive against Hizbullah, and Israeli warplanes began bombing targets deep inside Lebanon.
Stocks plummeted in the immediate aftermath of the attack, but gained ground in the following days. Senior sources in the Israeli army, who spoke anonymously, said Lieut Gen Halutz's behaviour was highly unethical and that he should resign as soon as the military completes its pull-out from south Lebanon.
Responding to the report, the army chief confirmed the details but insisted his decision had nothing to do with the possibility of an imminent war and was taken because of recent share losses he had incurred. Calling the report "malicious and tendentious", he said it was "impossible to link that to the war. At the time, I did not expect or think that there would be a war."
But Lieut Gen Halutz, already under fire for his management of the campaign, was heavily criticised by politicians across the political spectrum, some of whom called for his resignation on ethical grounds. "The ethical dimension is the crucial one," said right-winger Aryeh Eldad. "Halutz must go home."