The Winograd Commission’s battle against a Supreme Court order to publish the testimonies of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and former IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz regarding the Second Lebanon War came to an end Thursday.
In a 4-1 decision, the Supreme Court told the Olmert-appointed commission that it must publish the testimonies no later than two weeks after the publication of its interim report. Justice Ayala Procaccia was the sole dissenting vote, insisting that the commission release the testimonies before the interim report is made public.
The Supreme Court had originally ordered the commission on March 22nd to publish the testimonies before Pesach, prior to the release of its interim report, scheduled for the end of this month.
The commission has fought against having to release the transcripts since the March order. In its most recent argument, it claimed that due to intense preparations of the interim report, members could not properly review the full protocols to censor parts that might harm state security.
Supreme Court President Dorit Beinish wrote in the decision that it would be better if the commission made an effort to publish the protocols of the testimony before the deadline, which was offered by the commission at the beginning of the week.
“I have no doubt that at this time, when the date of the interim report is so close, the commission is focusing all its efforts on formulating the report, and its work is most probably strenuous,” said Judge Beinish.
The Chief Justice chided the commission nonetheless for its struggle against having to publish the testimonies at all, after a petition by Meretz Knesset Member Zahava Gal-On resulted in the Court order to release the transcripts.
“If there were room for making claims, it was before the first petition,” she said, adding that her first ruling “made clear that the Winograd Commission must be committed to the public’s right to know.”