Israeli Defense Minister Already Under Fire

JERUSALEM — In a country whose existence has been repeatedly punctuated by war, Israelis have always seemed most comfortable with a defense minister who knows his way around a battlefield.

The job has traditionally been held by the likes of Moshe Dayan, Yitzhak Rabin and Ariel Sharon -- storied ex-generals who played pivotal roles in the conflicts that shaped Israel’s history.

Now comes Amir Peretz, a onetime tank mechanic whose relatively brief and undistinguished military career ended when his legs were crushed by an armored vehicle. That was three decades ago, and he still walks with a limp.

Peretz became defense minister May 4, when the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was sworn in. His appointment set off a storm over his fitness for a post whose stature here is nearly equal to that of the prime minister.

A public opinion poll at the end of April, when the new government had been chosen but not yet sworn in, indicated that 76% believed he was the wrong person for the job.

A cartoon in the Haaretz daily depicted the outgoing Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz -- another highly decorated former general -- showing a visibly sweating Peretz the “red button” and telling him: “Try not to use this too much.”

Israeli news accounts described the army chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, closeting himself for days with Peretz, methodically tutoring him in one sensitive military secret after another.

Even in what passes for peacetime here, anyone sitting in the defense minister’s chair faces daunting challenges: the planned dismantling of Jewish settlement outposts in the West Bank, the completion of Israel’s barrier, confrontations with Palestinian militants, flare-ups on the border with Lebanon and the potential threat posed by Iran.

Beyond those concrete responsibilities lies a psychic one -- the defense minister symbolizes the military establishment in a country where a stint in the army is compulsory for most citizens and military culture is intertwined with daily life more than in any other Western-style democracy.

Because of that, Peretz’s appointment has triggered argument over whether the time has come for Israel’s self-identity to become less centered on the military.

Some of Peretz’s defenders say the complexity of the issues the Israeli military faces means that the country is best served by a separation of army and government.

And some of Peretz’s defenders come from unlikely quarters. Uzi Dayan, a former national security advisor and the nephew of eye-patch-wearing war hero Moshe Dayan, wrote last month in the Maariv daily that it was time to end Israel’s long tradition of military commanders moving directly into the ranks of officialdom.

“This is a corrupting custom,” Dayan wrote. “It leads to the militarization of the political echelon, and the politicization of the security establishment.”

Being defense minister was hardly Peretz’s dream job.

As leader of the Labor Party, which won the second-highest share of votes in Israel’s March 28 parliamentary elections, he was entitled to a senior ministry. Peretz, 54, a former trade-union leader, made it clear he wanted a portfolio such as finance, an ideal springboard for the social-welfare agenda his party has championed. Olmert was having none of that.

Peretz’s loyalties to his new job and his party’s principles could be tested in coming weeks when the Israeli parliament begins debating the national budget. The Labor Party supports increased social spending, but Peretz has told top commanders that he will fight hard to keep the defense budget from being cut.

Peretz had little honeymoon in the new post. A day after the new government’s swearing-in, senior military officials asked him to authorize an airstrike that killed five Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. He did so -- after asking, according to officials familiar with the discussions, whether all possible steps had been taken to prevent civilian bystanders from being hurt or killed.

Even so, Peretz’s speedy endorsement of a “targeted killing” -- an Israeli tactic that has drawn international condemnation -- was a disappointment to some of his allies on the left.

“I am sorry that Amir Peretz’s first decision as defense minister was to serve as the army’s rubber stamp,” lawmaker Zehava Golan told Israel Radio.

With less than two weeks on the job, Peretz’s main misstep has been a violation of the classically military concept of chain of command -- not that of the army, but within Olmert’s government.

Peretz reportedly received a dressing-down this week from the prime minister after giving interviews saying Israel should immediately hold talks with moderate Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas.

Olmert, according to accounts in Friday’s Israeli newspapers, told Peretz to leave such declarations to the Cabinet.

Some senior commanders have raised alarms about Peretz’s lack of strategic know-how, especially when coupled with Olmert’s own relative inexperience with security issues.

“No, it’s not necessary for a defense minister to be a former elite commando or a crack fighter pilot,” reserve Brig. Gen. Aryeh Eldad wrote in the Maariv daily. “But if he is serving in concert with a prime minister with limited security understanding, Israel could enter a very dangerous period.”

Peretz has been unapologetic about his lack of military credentials.

“True, I am a defense minister with a civilian and social orientation, but I don’t see any contradiction,” he told army brass at a handover ceremony this week at the Defense Ministry.

“The Israeli army is a people’s army and should remain one.”