Israeli army chief sold stocks hours before war Aug 15 9:11 PM US/Eastern Israel's army chief Dan Halutz reportedly offloaded his stock portfolio hours before the Jewish state unleashed a massive offensive in Lebanon and the stock market tumbled. According to the Maariv daily, Halutz sold the shares at noon on July 12, three hours after two soldiers were seized by Hezbollah in a cross-border raid and as Israeli artillery began to pound the positions of the Shiite militia in Lebanon, the paper said. Israel's main TA-25 index slumped by 8.3 percent over two days from July 12. Halutz confirmed that he sold his shares for 120,000 shekels (26,000 dollars) and said he lost 5,400 dollars in the transaction. "It's true that I sold these shares at noon on July 12, but you can't link the transaction to the war. At that moment I did not think that there would be a war," Maariv quoted Halutz as saying. A UN-brokered ceasefire went into effect on Monday after one-month of war in Lebanon but Israel's political and military leaders are facing criticism over the conduct of the offensive and calls for an inquiry. Israeli media have blasted Halutz for his handling of the war and the lack of preparation by the military for the offensive, with some reports saying that troops lacked basic equipment, like flak jackets, upon being sent in. Following Tuesday's report, lawmakers called on Halutz to step down and for Prosecutor General Menahem Mazuz to open an investigation. "This marks a serious problem of priorities during a time when state security was in the balance," Colette Aviattal, a Labor MP, said, calling for Halutz to step down. "The country was under fire and all that was important to him was his stock portfolio," he said. Zevulon Orlev, from the right-wing National Religious Party, echoed the sentiment. "During critical hours for a nation, one expects the chief of staff to be totally involved in the running of the war and not in personal questions of winnings or losses on the stock market," he said. http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/08/15/060815194218.f081b3jj.html
Hehe, who can blame the guy? I would be doing the same exact thing. Remember, the most important ass is your own and your families, everybody else comes second. -Neo
no doubt you would.. you have nothing to be proud of. hehe is suitable for a yahoo chat board. the amount of money involved is minimal. who knows what was going through the general's mind. doubtful it was greed more likely it was naivete or arrogance.
The arab countries conspire to manipulate the price of oil world-wide and people get bent out of shape because this guy sold some stock? Must be UN people using aliases on ET.
The main index sells off 8.2%, and he liquidates his portfolio for a loss of 17-18% before the event that causes the sell off . Be interesting to see what the holdings were.
zdreg, Apparently you don't think very highly of me, but lets be realistic here, it takes only a couple of minutes to phone in an order to sell your stock, probably less time then going to the bathroom. Therefore implying that he was wasting precious time selling his assets instead of focusing on his job as the article implies is an absurd argument. Was he trading on inside information? I don't know, since I don't know Israeli law. In reality I could careless if this Israeli general made or lost money, I was just trying to make a point, which is that any rational person would try to protect his assets. It is not only his duty to himself, but also to his family. As for caring about the "STATE", well I personally think that anyone who is concerned about the state above their own well being is an idiot (or brain washed), because the "STATE" in most cases has your wellbeing as one of its last priorities. Regards, Neo
I don't see what the big deal is. It's nothing compared to the 6000-9000% increase in puts activity on American & United Airlines in the days leading up to 9/11...
Don't believe everything you hear, Danno... The 9/11 Commission concluded: "further investigation has revealed that the trading had no connection with 9/11. A single U.S.-based institutional investor with no conceivable ties to al Qaeda purchased 95 percent of the UAL puts on September 6 as part of a trading strategy that also included buying 115,000 shares of American on September 10. Similarly, much of the seemingly suspicious trading in American on September 10 was traced to a specific U.S.-based options trading newsletter, faxed to its subscribers on Sunday, September 9, which recommended these trades. The SEC and FBI, aided by other agencies and the securities industry, devoted enormous resources to investigating this issue, including securing the cooperation of many foreign governments. These investigators have found that the apparently suspicious consistently proved innocuous."
Aaron, don't confuse them with facts, it's more fun to be able to say they bought 10,000 puts on the way to the terminal.