Alleged Misconduct by Israeli Field Commander Involving Stolen Fuel and Plea Bargain with Senior Officials

Despite General Yoffe’s angry protests in the command post, Avraham had told him what he’d told me back at the base: that once an operation like this was underway, only the commander on the spot could make life-or-death decisions. I was “the ramatkal in the field.” But Yoffe had also discovered that his jerrycans of gasoline were missing. He insisted that if and when I returned safely from the Golan, I be handed over to the military police. I don’t know what I would have told the general if he’d asked me directly whether I broke into his jeep. But in the mix of celebration and relief that the Syrian operation had succeeded, I got away with what amounted to a plea- bargain. I promised both Meir Amit and Avraham — at least one of whom believed me — that it would not happen again. 71 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_011542