The High Court of Justice is today (Tuesday) to begin hearing petitions against the continued work of the commission. The petitioners, representing two government watchdog organizations, seek an injunction that would disqualify and disband the government-appointed Winograd Commission.
The commission was assigned the task of investigating the failures of the political and military leadership during the recent war in Lebanon against the Hizbullah terrorist organization. It officially began its work last month.
In its petition, the Movement for Quality Government claims that the commission does not have the appropriate investigative powers and that its jurisdiction and tools are far too limited to be effective. In addition, the petition says that the appointment of committee members by government ministers is inappropriate and raises questions of conflict of interest, because the commission is tasked with investigating, inter alia, ministerial functioning.
Another organization, Ometz, has filed its own petition for an injunction against the Winograd Commission. The Ometz petition calls for the abolishment of the governmental commission and the establishment of an independent state commission of inquiry to investigate the Lebanon campaign.
Ometz was joined in its petition by Moti Ashkenazi, whose protest movement in the wake of the 1973 Yom Kippur War is often credited with bringing down the government of then-Prime Minister Golda Meir. In his affidavit, Ashkenazi questioned the private meetings last week between members of the commission and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz.
IDF reservists fighting for the establishment of an independent commission of inquiry into the war in Lebanon stated last week that the Winograd Commission had shown its "true face" during its meeting with the prime minister. The reservists said that persons close to the commission reported the meeting with Olmert was "positive and unofficial." This, reservist activists said, "shows the commission members understand their job - not to investigate and to cover up."
Meanwhile, today's Yediot Acharonot newspaper revealed that the general secretary of the Wingrad Commission was a leading activist on behalf of the ruling Kadima party - the party of Olmert and other ministers - during the last elections. The general secretary, Menachem Ben-Chaim, was active in leading volunteer efforts on behalf of Kadima during the previous elections.
"It is impossible to have a political activist involved in the investigation of the head of his own party," Knesset Member Rabbi Yitzchak Levy (National Union-NRP) wrote in a letter to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz. MK Levy called upon Mazuz to disqualify Ben-Chaim from serving on the commission due to conflict of interest.
Ben-Chaim, however, denied being a member of any political group. "I would ask that I not be turned into a tool in the hands of opposition elements acting against the commission," Ben-Chaim added.
In another organizational move against the Winograd Commission, a coalition of parliamentary and extra-parliamentary groups demanding the establishment of a non-governmental state commission of inquiry are meeting today in Kfar HaMaccabiah, in Ramat Gan. Among those represented at the broad-based meeting are the Meretz, Labor and Yisrael Beiteinu parties, parents of fallen soldiers, activists in the IDF reservists' protest movement, residents of the Golan Heights, the Negev city of Sderot, north Tel Aviv, Judea, Samaria and the expelled communities of Gaza, as well as the national university students organization.
The commission was assigned the task of investigating the failures of the political and military leadership during the recent war in Lebanon against the Hizbullah terrorist organization. It officially began its work last month.
In its petition, the Movement for Quality Government claims that the commission does not have the appropriate investigative powers and that its jurisdiction and tools are far too limited to be effective. In addition, the petition says that the appointment of committee members by government ministers is inappropriate and raises questions of conflict of interest, because the commission is tasked with investigating, inter alia, ministerial functioning.
Another organization, Ometz, has filed its own petition for an injunction against the Winograd Commission. The Ometz petition calls for the abolishment of the governmental commission and the establishment of an independent state commission of inquiry to investigate the Lebanon campaign.
Ometz was joined in its petition by Moti Ashkenazi, whose protest movement in the wake of the 1973 Yom Kippur War is often credited with bringing down the government of then-Prime Minister Golda Meir. In his affidavit, Ashkenazi questioned the private meetings last week between members of the commission and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz.
IDF reservists fighting for the establishment of an independent commission of inquiry into the war in Lebanon stated last week that the Winograd Commission had shown its "true face" during its meeting with the prime minister. The reservists said that persons close to the commission reported the meeting with Olmert was "positive and unofficial." This, reservist activists said, "shows the commission members understand their job - not to investigate and to cover up."
Meanwhile, today's Yediot Acharonot newspaper revealed that the general secretary of the Wingrad Commission was a leading activist on behalf of the ruling Kadima party - the party of Olmert and other ministers - during the last elections. The general secretary, Menachem Ben-Chaim, was active in leading volunteer efforts on behalf of Kadima during the previous elections.
"It is impossible to have a political activist involved in the investigation of the head of his own party," Knesset Member Rabbi Yitzchak Levy (National Union-NRP) wrote in a letter to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz. MK Levy called upon Mazuz to disqualify Ben-Chaim from serving on the commission due to conflict of interest.
Ben-Chaim, however, denied being a member of any political group. "I would ask that I not be turned into a tool in the hands of opposition elements acting against the commission," Ben-Chaim added.
In another organizational move against the Winograd Commission, a coalition of parliamentary and extra-parliamentary groups demanding the establishment of a non-governmental state commission of inquiry are meeting today in Kfar HaMaccabiah, in Ramat Gan. Among those represented at the broad-based meeting are the Meretz, Labor and Yisrael Beiteinu parties, parents of fallen soldiers, activists in the IDF reservists' protest movement, residents of the Golan Heights, the Negev city of Sderot, north Tel Aviv, Judea, Samaria and the expelled communities of Gaza, as well as the national university students organization.