Israeli General Resigns from Army Following Indictment on Rape Charges
JERUSALEM — An Israeli general who was indicted in the rape and sexual assault of two female subordinates has resigned from the Israel Defense Forces.
The IDF accepted the resignation of Brig.-Gen. Ofek Buchris, 47, on Sunday, according to reports. He was indicted last week by the Military Advocate General for the sexual offenses allegedly committed between 2010 and 2012.
Buchris, who has denied the allegations and reportedly has passed two privately funded polygraph tests, said he resigned in order to stand trial as a civilian and not an IDF officer. He is charged with rape, sodomy, indecent acts and conduct unbecoming of an officer.
“I am innocent and I will fight for my good name and for my innocence,” he said in a statement, which noted his 28 years in the service “in which I loyally served my people and my home.”
In March, his promotion to head the Operations Division was nixed when the allegations came to light. He also was suspended from his temporary post with the army’s Command and Staff College.
Buchris reportedly was on a shortlist of potential candidates for IDF chief of staff down the line.
As commander of the Golani Brigade from 2010 to 2012, Buchris is suspected of having raped and sexually abused one of the soldiers; a second soldier came forward several days after the first accusations were made.
As a battalion commander, Buchris was critically injured during Operation Defensive Shield in 2002 and was awarded a citation for his bravery.
“I am grateful to my many subordinates, who followed my leadership in the battlefields, in training fields and on the borders. I enjoyed your company very much,” he said in his statement, which also expressed gratitude to his commanders. “You demonstrated real camaraderie on the battlefield. Your friendship is real.”
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO