Rape allegations cast pall over decorated general’s storied career

A second former soldier came forward to accuse Brig.-Gen. Ofek Buchris of sexual assault on Wednesday night, according to Channel 2 news, adding to the allegations against the high-ranking, highly decorated officer who had been expected to rise to the very top of the IDF hierarchy.

On Tuesday, news broke that one soldier, who served in Buchris’s office when he served as head of the Golani Brigade from 2010 to 2012, had accused him of rape, sodomy and sexual assault.

According to his accuser, the acts were committed over an extended period of time. “There was no romance here, it was sexual exploitation,” the woman’s attorney said.

Under Israeli law, sodomy constitutes either oral or anal sex when the man “exploits his authority in the workplace or in (national) service.”

Reports of the first soldier’s allegations sent shockwaves through the IDF and the rest of the country, as Buchris’s previously glowing reputation was suddenly called into question.

Buchris, who was shot and critically injured during an operation in the West Bank in 2002, has denied all of the allegations against him through his attorney.

The incident has at least temporarily disrupted his scheduled promotion to head of the army’s Operations Division. The position is generally seen as a stepping stone to higher office, as the brigadier general who serves in that role manages the army’s most important missions and works closely with the General Staff.

Buchris, who lives in a religious community in the Galilee, was questioned on Wednesday for a second time by the IDF Military Police’s Investigation’s Unit, Metzach.

Beforehand, the first accuser’s father spoke out against Buchris and the entire military hierarchy, telling reporters: “The system failed, including (as regards) a decorated officer who committed rape. It is a disgrace that a commander like this who wears that (Golani) beret, who wears a yarmulke, does not take responsibility.”

The first accuser reportedly told investigators that she knew of another soldier who had been sexually assaulted by Buchris, according to the Walla news site.

Little is known about the second accuser, who only emerged Wednesday evening.

But investigators expect more women to come forward now that Buchris’s name, which was initially withheld from publication, has been released.

“In the name of my daughter, I ask that additional girls step up and file a complaint, if they were also hurt. They are not at fault,” the father of the first alleged victim said.

Buchris had appeared to be on track to an increasingly illustrious career in the IDF.

“People might know what happened with his combat actions, but they don’t know what happened behind closed doors,” the woman’s father told reporters.

Friends, family, former soldiers defend Buchris

This would not be the first time that the promotion of a potential candidate was derailed by allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse.

In 1999, the High Court of Justice blocked the promotion of Brig.-Gen. (res.) Nir Galili to major general and head of an army corps, in light of an affair Galili had with an subordinate officer three years prior.

Former minster and IDF general Yitzhak Mordechai was also found guilty of sexually assaulting three women in 2001 and was forced into abandoning his political career. One of the victims was a former soldier, who served in his office when he was the head of the army’s Northern Command in 1992.

However, if Buchris is indeed found guilty, this case would be the most dramatic and truly shocking example of sexual assault in the IDF, in terms of the severity of the charges against him and the suddenness with which these allegations would have derailed an illustrious career.

‘The truth is very clear to me and to everyone who knows him. My support for him is complete and loving.’

Many members of family, friends and former subordinate soldiers said they do not believe the allegations against Buchris.

“The truth is very clear to me and to everyone who knows him. My support for him is complete and loving,” Buchris’s wife told Ynet news.

A soldier who served in Buchris’s office also took to social media to defend her former commander.

“Many people know him and can testify to his kindness,” the soldier wrote on Facebook. “When I would stay with him in the office at night, he would make sure to leave the door open so that I wouldn’t be in a position to feel uncomfortable. He never tried to touch any of us. The only time he did touch me was when he gave me a new rank — while he poked fun at me.”

Buchris’s attorney has noted that the brigadier general has been subjected to two polygraph tests, in which Buchris was asked if he’d had sex with his accuser. Neither test showed that his client had lied when he denied the relationship, though polygraph testimony is generally not considered reliable.

A seemingly unimpeachable career

Buchris, 47, enlisted in the army in 1988. He joined the Golani Brigade and remained there, rising through the ranks of the famed infantry brigade until 2005.

While a battalion commander in the rough and tumble Golani Brigade, Buchris took part in the 2002 Operation Defensive Shield. During the military action, Buchris and his unit were tasked with locating bomb-making laboratories in Nablus. When he entered the home of one such facility, he was shot four times and critically injured.

For his bravery, he was awarded a citation by the IDF chief of staff.

Buchris recuperated and returned to the Golani Brigade for another two and a half years.

After a brief stint at the US Army’s War College in 2005, Buchris returned to Israel in 2006 and served as commander of the IDF’s regional Baram Brigade, which defends the Galilee, and then as commander of the Oded Reserve Brigade.

From 2010 to 2012, Buchris served as commander of the Golani Brigade, which is when he is suspected of having raped and sexually abused at least one female soldier.

After handing over the Golani Brigade to Col. Yaniv Asur, Buchris was promoted to his current rank of brigadier general and put in charge of the Amud Ha’Esh Armored Division.

In 2013, then-IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz tasked Buchris with transforming the Bashan Division from an armored division into a regional division, which would be responsible for defending the Golan Heights.

In September 2015, Buchris left the Bashan Division to serve in the army’s Command and Staff College, known in the army by the acronym “Poom.” This was meant to be a temporary placement until Buchris could take over as commander of the Operations Division.

Previous heads of the Operations Division have gone on to become major generals and chiefs of staff.

Buchris’s appointment could have taken place this month or even this week, but instead the brigadier general has been suspended until further notice.