In a special mid-recess Knesset session on Thursday afternoon, leaders of parties in and out of the opposition have called on Olmert and his government to quit.

Five minutes were granted to each speaker - a representative of each party - except for opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu, who received ten.  A tense moment occurred when Speaker Majali Wahabe of Kadima refused to allow Zahava Gal'on of Meretz to say an extra sentence when her time was up, despite her repeated insistence on doing so; only the intervention of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert himself - despite Gal'on's very sharp words of criticism against the Prime Minister - convinced Wahabe to grant her the extra seconds.

Ex-Prime Minister Netanyahu opened the session by calling for new elections:
"This week, the Winograd Commission removed the screen from the eyes of the citizens, and reminded us of a truth that we all knew very clearly for the first decades of our State, but that has become blurred of late - namely, that our existence and peace with our enemies are dependent mainly on our strength. Only if we are strong, will we prevent or win wars, and will we have a genuine hope for peace.

"I have said before: If our enemies lay down their swords, there will be peace, but if we lay down our swords, we simply won't be at all. This is the clearest message of the Winograd report - that our sword is held by a weak hand. I quote from the report: 'This is the first time in Israeli war history that a war in which we were involved ended without our clear victory... as our enemies saw as well.' This is something we cannot afford.

"Therefore, the rebuilding of our strength is not only the charge of the hour, but the charge of our existence. We must rebuild ourselves in every way...

"On July 12 [when the Second Lebanon War started], when danger arose, Israel once again proved its strength by volunteering and answering the call. Reservists left their affairs, showed up at their bases, and waited for orders, while in the north and in Sderot, people remained in shelters without complaining, and elsewhere in the country, people opened their homes for the northern residents who went south. This was the spirit of '48 and '67 and '73 that was once again revealed. We stood as one nation, putting a up a united front, showing national responsibility...

"We gave total backing to the government to achieve its aims and remove the threat. We thought, then, that there was someone we could count on. But in actuality, there was no leadership. The government failed twice - in its performance, and in its reading of the situation. The government was deeply entrenched in its conception of unilateral withdrawals - a policy that failed. In the north it failed, and in the south it is failing. This policy did not advance the peace that we all want; peace cannot be achieved via one-sided moves, but with dialogue with those of our enemy who want to end war. The time has now come to make the necessary changes and corrections. We must restore our deterrence and self-respect."

"We must fix the errors, and first and foremost - the lack of leadership, decision-making, etc. Leadership is the most important part of any organization, large or small. A leader must have a vision and lead the way, and if not, the organization loses its way very quickly. The country is longing for leadership like this; we all feel it. There is a general feeling that there is helplessness and paralysis in every aspect. The people want leaders who will make the necessary decisions, with national responsibility and good judgment. The State of Israel needs a different leadership - experience and not amateurism; judgment and not adventurism; etc. We must return to the nation and ask it what it wants."

Next to speak was MK Effie Eitam of the National Union, who addressed his remarks directly to the government ministers:
"We see you in your shame and embarrassment, hiding behind Ehudgrad, the ruins of your government, knowing that your time is up yet refusing to go. A good democracy doesn't need [rallies in] public squares - it has representatives, etc. But there are times when the government is no longer the public's representative, but only that of itself and its desire for power. That time is now. Tonight we will see in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv that that is the situation now.

"Reservists who fought in the war will be there, and families of those who fell, and many others, and many who won't be able to be there physically - and there will be hope, hope for something better that we deserve and that we will receive, if only you will allow the natural democratic events to take their course.

"There is a very broad consensus, wall to wall, united in their desire to see you go home. You, Olmert, say you will fix the faults - but you are the main fault."

MK Danny Yatom of the Labor Party, which is a leading partner in the government coalition, also called for Olmert's resignation:
"You have failed in all that is concerned with the Second Lebanon War. The time of responsibility has arrived. You must now show leadership - that which was so sorely missing during the war - and quit. This crisis is among the worst in the history of the State. You have lost the confidence of the voters, and you can no longer represent them. Instead of spending your time dealing with political survival, there is a country that has to be run."

Unsurprisingly, the representatives of Shas, Yisrael Beiteinu, and the Pensioners did not second the call for the government's resignation.

MK Yaakov Margi of Shas said, "Will new elections solve our need to fix the problems now?"

David Rotem (Yisrael Beiteinu) called for a national unity emergency government of all the Zionist parties.
He said the problems noted in the Winograd report did not start with the present government: "The Commission said the problems started in 2000 when we quit Lebanon unilaterally. Then there were budget cuts to the army under then-Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu... It is not all the present government's fault. We must also tell the nation the truth: Hizbullah sees the Winograd commission and the resulting tizzy here, and celebrates - while it continues to build up against us, as does Hamas in Judea and Samaria. Will new elections lessen this threat, or lessen the joy of Hamas? Certainly not. The nation does not want that."

MK Moshe Sharoni (Pensioners) said, "We stand here, fighting against each other, but forgetting one thing: the IDF wasn't defeated in the Second Lebanon War, period. Nasrallah [of Hizbullah] is not sitting on our border in the north - that's not an achievement?!"

Yaakov Cohen of United Torah Judaism said the present government has no Divine Providence or luck, because it abandoned the home front during and since the war:
"The Winograd report points out a series of errors and faults - including those regarding the home front. Public buildings, shelters, hospitals, supplies were not ready - only the volunteer organizations dealt with the people of the north. It was as if there was no government. This is totally the Prime Minister's personal responsibility. And now, nine months later, still no lessons have been learned, everything remains the same; the children and the needy of the home front remain abandoned. The government has failed in all aspects. It has no Divine help - and the reason is because it abandoned the children and the needy. The Prime Minister's decision are not made based on what is good for the people, but rather on what his strategic public relations consultants say..."

Zahava Gal'on of Meretz laced into the Prime Minister very harshly:
"Mr. Prime Minister, this was the Lebanon casino. You and your government treated the lives of the IDF soldier and the north with disdain. You gambled on their lives. The war was unnecessary and bad. 119 soldiers and 44 citizens were killed because of your bad and wanton leadership. The Winograd report leaves no choice but for all of you to resign. You are all responsible, you nonchalantly went out to war, but you endangered the soldiers' lives merely for the sake of your government's image. You have failed terribly as leaders. You are a group of politicians who did not know your responsibility; you used brawn instead of brains. The entire Olmert government should go - but you personally, Mr. Prime Minister, are responsible for everything - for the poor planning, the performance, the rush, the setting of absurd goals, etc..."

MK Menachem Ben-Sasson of Kadima defended Olmert:
"Who do we want as Prime Minister at this time - someone who collapsed under pressure, or someone who withstood a year of insults and still continues to actually run the country?" He also criticized the Knesset for not overseeing the government properly.

Though Olmert sat through the entire session, Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres responded in the name of government. He appeared to be enjoying himself as he aroused much heckling, responding to nearly everyone with sarcastic jibes. Addressing the bereaved parents in the audience, he said, "I believe your sacrifice was not in vain. I admit that I have had doubts - but the alternative was continued kidnappings and bombings and shooting on civilian communities from Hizbullah." 

Peres said that the government must correct its deficiencies, and, in a jab at Netanyahu, said, "A leader needs not only a vision; he also needs a parliamentary majority."

A special session on the weak enforcement of the law against selling Chametz on Passover was also held, immediately following the above session.  It was held at the initiative of MKs Uri Ariel and Menachem Porush.