Following controversy over statements he shredded anonymous complaints about sexual harassment in the IDF when he was head of the military's Personnel Directorate, Intelligence Services Minister Elazar Stern announced Tuesday that he has withdrawn himself as a possible candidate to succeed President Isaac Herzog as head of the Jewish Agency.
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"In the current atmosphere, I do not find it appropriate to put myself forth as a candidate," Stern wrote in a Facebook post announcing the decision.
"For 47 years I have been enlisted to serve the Israeli public. A soldier of the Jewish people, an Israeli fighter. Committed to the IDF, Israeli society, and the Jewish people," Stern added.
"I'm not always politically correct, and don't always express myself well. But I'm always loyal to the truth, to my values, and to doing good. And so it was when in an interview I took a stance against the wrong done in the process of the appointment of the new director of the Shin Bet [security agency]," Stern wrote.
