A group of reserve soldiers who fought in Lebanon will set off on a protest march today (Monday), calling upon Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz to resign. The soldiers say that Olmert and Peretz failed in managing the just-ended war in Lebanon.
The march will set out from the Kastel - an Independence War battle site near Mevaseret Zion - and will head towards the Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem, a 7-kilometer (4.5-mile) trek. The soldiers explain that the confused and contradictory orders handed down to them during the course of the war indicate an unclear strategy and set of objectives. They also claim that severe problems in logistics, manifest in outdated equipment and lack of food, helped lose some battles.
Two Thursdays ago, some 50 people gathered in Rabin Square to demand "personal responsibility" from the government ministers, and their consequent resignation. This past Thursday, the number grew to 150 - and this coming Thursday, the organizers expect even more. "Among them will be at least one busload of new immigrants from Russia," Ariella, one of the chief organizers, told Arutz-7. "This is apparently the first time they are really taking to the streets for a political cause."
Ariella explained that the people represented at the Thursday rallies are from all parts of the political spectrum.
Haaretz reported that some 160 infantry reserve soldiers accuse their commanders of preventing them from participating in the demonstration. The reservists say their release from the army was delayed just long enough to keep them from taking part.
Just a few days ago, MK Nissan Slomiansky (National Religious Party) said, in response to the government decision to push off a Knesset vote on a budget cut, "In continuation of the general public atmosphere that the time has come to replace this government, it turns out that the government doesn't even have full support within the coalition." MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) called for Olmert to suspend himself.
Columnist Uzi Benziman of Haaretz wrote, towards the end of the war:
"Whichever way you look at it, if the prime minister opposed the broadening of the war, why did he succumb to the pressure of the military establishment? And, if he did approve it, how dare his aides attempt to clear him, in retrospect, of the responsibility for its painful results...?
"Furthermore, how does the decision to rush toward the Litani River fit with the frenzied disposition at the IDF, as the flames are dying, to withdraw 'quickly and carefully' most of the troops from Lebanese soil? And, if Olmert indeed did not intend to broaden the war and was more inclined toward a ceasefire, why did he agree to the dismissal of the head of the Northern Command a day earlier? After all, if the war is about to end, why is it necessary to humiliate the commander of the war front during the last day of the fighting? ...
"When Olmert announces that he, above all others, is responsible for the way the war was carried out, but avoids reaching the necessary personal conclusions, he is behaving according to norms that have dominated public life in recent years: the declaration is enough. In other words, there is no need to pay the price that problematic behavior demands."
The Jerusalem Post's Caroline Glick has written that there is no need for an official commission of inquiry to investigate the war - simply because it is obvious that "the Olmert government has failed on every level. The Olmert government must go." If the Knesset does not topple the government, "the people of Israel must take to the streets in mass demonstrations" to demand this.
"It was the government's responsibility," Glick writes, "to question the IDF's operational model of aerial warfare and to cut its losses when after two or three days it was clear that the model was wrong. At that point the government should have called up the reserves and launched a combined ground and air offensive. [Instead,] it abandoned its war goals, declared victory and sued for a cease-fire. When the public objected, after waiting two precious weeks, the government called up the reserves but then waited another unforgivable 10 days before committing them to battle."
Glick says that Foreign Minister Livny "did her best to demoralize the IDF and the public by publicly proclaiming that there is no military solution to what is clearly a military conflict," and chose not to publicly argue Israel's case.
Ari Shavit of Haaretz wrote:
"You cannot lead an entire nation to war promising victory, produce humiliating defeat and remain in power. You cannot bury 120 [159] Israelis in cemeteries, keep a million Israelis in shelters for a month, wear down deterrent power, bring the next war very close, and then say, 'Oops, I made a mistake, that was not the intention, pass me a cigar, please.' There is no mistake Ehud Olmert did not make this past month. He went to war hastily, without properly gauging the outcome. He blindly followed the military without asking the necessary questions. He mistakenly gambled on air operations, was strangely late with the ground operation, and failed to implement the army's original plan, much more daring and sophisticated than that which was implemented. And after arrogantly and hastily bursting into war, Olmert managed it hesitantly, unfocused and limp. He neglected the home front and abandoned the residents of the north. He also failed shamefully on the diplomatic front..."
The march will set out from the Kastel - an Independence War battle site near Mevaseret Zion - and will head towards the Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem, a 7-kilometer (4.5-mile) trek. The soldiers explain that the confused and contradictory orders handed down to them during the course of the war indicate an unclear strategy and set of objectives. They also claim that severe problems in logistics, manifest in outdated equipment and lack of food, helped lose some battles.
Two Thursdays ago, some 50 people gathered in Rabin Square to demand "personal responsibility" from the government ministers, and their consequent resignation. This past Thursday, the number grew to 150 - and this coming Thursday, the organizers expect even more. "Among them will be at least one busload of new immigrants from Russia," Ariella, one of the chief organizers, told Arutz-7. "This is apparently the first time they are really taking to the streets for a political cause."
Ariella explained that the people represented at the Thursday rallies are from all parts of the political spectrum.
Haaretz reported that some 160 infantry reserve soldiers accuse their commanders of preventing them from participating in the demonstration. The reservists say their release from the army was delayed just long enough to keep them from taking part.
Just a few days ago, MK Nissan Slomiansky (National Religious Party) said, in response to the government decision to push off a Knesset vote on a budget cut, "In continuation of the general public atmosphere that the time has come to replace this government, it turns out that the government doesn't even have full support within the coalition." MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) called for Olmert to suspend himself.
Columnist Uzi Benziman of Haaretz wrote, towards the end of the war:
"Whichever way you look at it, if the prime minister opposed the broadening of the war, why did he succumb to the pressure of the military establishment? And, if he did approve it, how dare his aides attempt to clear him, in retrospect, of the responsibility for its painful results...?
"Furthermore, how does the decision to rush toward the Litani River fit with the frenzied disposition at the IDF, as the flames are dying, to withdraw 'quickly and carefully' most of the troops from Lebanese soil? And, if Olmert indeed did not intend to broaden the war and was more inclined toward a ceasefire, why did he agree to the dismissal of the head of the Northern Command a day earlier? After all, if the war is about to end, why is it necessary to humiliate the commander of the war front during the last day of the fighting? ...
"When Olmert announces that he, above all others, is responsible for the way the war was carried out, but avoids reaching the necessary personal conclusions, he is behaving according to norms that have dominated public life in recent years: the declaration is enough. In other words, there is no need to pay the price that problematic behavior demands."
The Jerusalem Post's Caroline Glick has written that there is no need for an official commission of inquiry to investigate the war - simply because it is obvious that "the Olmert government has failed on every level. The Olmert government must go." If the Knesset does not topple the government, "the people of Israel must take to the streets in mass demonstrations" to demand this.
"It was the government's responsibility," Glick writes, "to question the IDF's operational model of aerial warfare and to cut its losses when after two or three days it was clear that the model was wrong. At that point the government should have called up the reserves and launched a combined ground and air offensive. [Instead,] it abandoned its war goals, declared victory and sued for a cease-fire. When the public objected, after waiting two precious weeks, the government called up the reserves but then waited another unforgivable 10 days before committing them to battle."
Glick says that Foreign Minister Livny "did her best to demoralize the IDF and the public by publicly proclaiming that there is no military solution to what is clearly a military conflict," and chose not to publicly argue Israel's case.
Ari Shavit of Haaretz wrote:
"You cannot lead an entire nation to war promising victory, produce humiliating defeat and remain in power. You cannot bury 120 [159] Israelis in cemeteries, keep a million Israelis in shelters for a month, wear down deterrent power, bring the next war very close, and then say, 'Oops, I made a mistake, that was not the intention, pass me a cigar, please.' There is no mistake Ehud Olmert did not make this past month. He went to war hastily, without properly gauging the outcome. He blindly followed the military without asking the necessary questions. He mistakenly gambled on air operations, was strangely late with the ground operation, and failed to implement the army's original plan, much more daring and sophisticated than that which was implemented. And after arrogantly and hastily bursting into war, Olmert managed it hesitantly, unfocused and limp. He neglected the home front and abandoned the residents of the north. He also failed shamefully on the diplomatic front..."