While MK Hanegbi vacationed in Florida his committee saved the Golan

Dr. Aaron Lerner Date: 30 August 2006

While Knesset Foreign Affairs & Defense Committee Chairman Kadima MK Tzachi
Hanegbi vacationed with his family in Florida during the war in Lebanon,
other committee members acted to save the Golan.

Amir Rapaport, military analyst for the Maariv newspaper, revealed in a
report on 18 August that during the course of the first two weeks of the war
in Lebanon, while the Syria army went on full alert and massed forces near
the border, the IDF relied on the standard deployment of a small force of
mostly patrolling reserves to defend the Golan Heights from a Syrian
invasion.

According to Rapaport, the IDF only deployed forces to defend the Golan from
the threat of the massed Syrian forces after members of the Knesset Foreign
Affairs & Defense Committee, including MKs Yuval Steinitz, Effie Eitam and
Matan Vilnai met on the matter and even toured the area.

MK Steinitz confirms his involvement in his Jerusalem Post interview on 29
August.

A source in the Knesset working in the Knesset Foreign Affairs & Defense
Committee who is intimately aware of the events, told IMRA today that
Hanegbi had no role in the actions of the Committee on this matter.

Hanegbi explained in a live telephone interview broadcast on Israel
Television Channel Two on 6 August that there was no problem with his going
on vacation with his family to Fort Lauderdale Florida in the middle of the
war as there wasn't much for his committee to do at the time and that he was
following developments from Florida.

Hanegbi noted his special circumstance: his wife is an immigrant from
America and they always join her family in the summer in Florida.

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(Mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-3-7255730
INTERNET ADDRESS: imra@netvision.net.il
Website: http://www.imra.org.il