Accusers say polygraph proves IDF general lied about rape

Attorneys for the two complainants in the case of Brig. Gen. Ofek Buchris, who is being investigated on five alleged instances of rape, sodomy and sexual assault, said this week that the general had failed a lie-detector test administered by army investigators.

The claim was dismissed by Buchris’s attorney as a “tendentious and partisan” rendering of the polygraph findings.

Buchris, 47, a highly decorated officer considered on the fast track to head the IDF, has vehemently denied the accusations by two female former subordinates.

Early last week, he underwent a polygraph test administered by the Military Police’s investigations unit. The test’s results are being kept under wraps by the Military Police, though that hasn’t stopped the leaks.

On Sunday, Channel 2 quoted a senior MP officer saying the polygraph test showed “problematic” findings for Buchris.

“At least some of the results of the last test were problematic from his [Buchris’s] point of view,” the report quoted investigators as saying. A day later, Channel 10 reported that Buchris was found telling the truth on three of the four questions investigators asked him, but his answer to the final question was less clear-cut.

On Tuesday, an attorney for one complainant, a female soldier who served under Buchris when he commanded the Golani Brigade, announced that the report was wrong.

Attorney Liat Behar Cohen said she had received a call from the army’s top prosecutor, Col. Sharon Zagagi-Pinchas, who “told us the report was false, and the complainant was found to have told the truth, and Brig. Gen. Buchris was found to have told a lie.”

On Wednesday, an attorney for the second complainant said he had received a similar call. “We got a phone call from the military prosecution, and they wanted to tell us that contrary to news reports, the complainant was found telling the truth,” the attorney said.

Buchris’s IDF-provided attorney, Col. Asher Halperin, the army’s top-ranked defense attorney, said the accounts of the complainants’ attorneys’ were incomplete and “tendentious.”

“When it comes to the spate of recent reports, including reports [Tuesday] evening about the polygraph results, we must note that the media is reporting bits and pieces of information, some of them tendentious and partisan, or based on comments that we have a hard time believing were quoted accurately from an official source,” Halperin said in a statement.

“As we have said time and again, we are prevented from speaking at this sensitive time about the details of the investigation, without exception, in order not to disrupt it. Despite the difficulty, we urge all parties in this case to do the same,” he added.

Last Thursday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot rescinded Burchris’s nomination to command the army’s Operations Division due to the ongoing investigation. Eisenkot also extended a two-week suspension of the officer by another month.

The decision to cancel Buchris’s appointment was made in consultation with the army’s top attorney, Military Advocate General Brig. Gen. Sharon Afek, after officials realized Buchris’s investigation would take “not days, but months,” according to an IDF spokesperson.

“The decision does not have to do with the [findings of the] investigation, which is ongoing, but with the understanding that the head of the Operations Division is a core position in the IDF’s operations and the investigation will take time,” the spokesperson said.

Halperin said the brigadier general understood and supported Eisenkot’s decision, as such investigations, “by their very nature, take a long time.”

“As the chief of staff explained in his conversation with Brig. Gen. Buchris, it was difficult to wait to appoint a new head of the Operations Division, a central and sensitive position,” Halperin said in a statement.

“The chief of staff’s decision was taken only because of the investigation’s expected duration,” Halperin emphasized.

Buchris was supposed to take over the position from Brig. Gen. Aharon Haliva this month. On Sunday, the army said it would appoint Brig. Gen. Itzik Turgeman instead.

The position is generally seen as a steppingstone to higher office, as the brigadier general who serves in the role manages the army’s most important missions and works closely with the IDF General Staff. Indeed, many chiefs of the general staff have served in the position, including Gabi Ashkenazi, as have many major generals who currently serve on the General Staff.