Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz yesterday ordered Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Moshe Ya´alon to stop giving polygraph tests to officers in an effort to uncover the source of media leaks.

The order, Mofaz´s first response to the resignation and subsequent ouster of Brigadier General Shmuel Zakai, was a rebuke for Ya´alon.

But the chief of staff received backing from a different source yesterday: The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee unanimously approved his decision to fire Zakai, which has aroused considerable opposition within the army.

Zakai, a widely respected officer with 24 years of experience, resigned as commander of the Gaza Division last week after he failed a polygraph test administered as part of a probe into leaks to the media. On Monday, Ya´alon dismissed him from active service entirely, saying someone who "abandoned his division during wartime" was unfit to serve as a senior officer.

Under the new orders issued by Mofaz yesterday, the chief of staff will only be able to subject an officer to a polygraph test if the case conforms to guidelines set by the attorney general. In addition, any such decision will need the approval of both the judge advocate general and the defense minister.

Ya´alon, addressing the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee yesterday, defended his decision to fire Zakai by saying that Zakai´s "failure of credibility did not make it possible for him to continue serving in the IDF."

Over the past few months, he told the committee, there were several cases in which internal army discussions were leaked to the media almost immediately after they ended, often in a manipulative fashion.

The problem became so severe that many officers were reluctant to speak openly in such forums for fear that their remarks would be published in the press. He therefore asked both Zakai and GOC Southern Command Major General Dan Harel to try to stop the leaks, but to no avail.

The crisis came to a head, Ya´alon said, the day after a cabinet discussion on Operation Days of Penitence in Gaza, when Haaretz reported in its lead article that the army wanted to stop the operation but Prime Minister Ariel Sharon insisted on continuing it. At that point, Ya´alon ordered an immediate investigation into the source of the leak. As part of the probe, 15 officers were given polygraph tests in which they were asked whether they were the source of the Haaretz report. All of them passed except Zakai, Ya´alon said.

However, he added, doubts about Zakai´s credibility had arisen even before the polygraph test, when, in response to questioning, he admitted that he met regularly with military correspondents to give them background briefings. Over the previous few months, Ya´alon said, Zakai had repeatedly denied having any contact with journalists, so this sudden reversal was suspicious.

Following the polygraph test, Ya´alon charged, Zakai decided to halt the investigation by resigning, saying he was unable to serve where he was distrusted. Ya´alon then had a meeting with Zakai, at which the only other participant was Ya´alon´s bureau chief, and even the contents of this meeting were promptly leaked to the press, he said.

"I told him that if he can prove his innocence, I´ll be glad, but he did not manage to do so and therefore I informed him on Monday that I was terminating his service in the IDF," Ya´alon concluded.

The MKs unanimously backed this decision. MK Ran Cohen (Yahad) declared that a liar was unfit to be an IDF officer; other MKs made similar remarks. (© Copyright 2004 Haaretz. 11/10/04)