Members of the government-picked Winograd Committee to investigate the failures of the Second Lebanon War have threatened the Supreme Court with their resignations.
The threat was in response to growing pressure on the committee to abide by a court order to publish censored testimony of the Prime Minister, Defense Minister and former IDF Chief of Staff prior to the publication of its interim report. The court order was agreed upon prior to the Passover holiday following a petition by Meretz MK Zehava Gal-On, but the committee has since backed down from the commitment, saying the decision when and what to publish belongs to the committee alone.
Army Radio reported that the members of the committee who have threatened to resign if the testimony is published are Dr. Ruth Gavison and Gen. (res.) Menahem Eitan.
Chief Justice Dorit Beinish blasted the committee Sunday, saying the committee’s backtracking on its commitment was the result of controversy following the reporting of Vice-Premier Shimon Peres’s testimony that he would not have gone to war. "You simply regretted [your commitment] after one of your witnesses expressed his dislike for something," Beinish said.
MK Ami Ayalon (Labor) said Tuesday that Winograd Committee members were “terrorizing the Supreme Court” and undermining the public’s trust in the state-picked members’ findings.
IDF reservist groups and the families of fallen soldiers reacted harshly to the committee’s resignation threats, calling the members “tools of the government” and insisting the public has the right to judge for itself whether the war was a failure.
Sources close to committee members denied that the government was influencing the committee, and said that the threats were made to favorably influence the court, and that in reality the members have no intention to resign.
The watchdog Ometz organization called on State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss Monday to publish his report on the government’s management of the Home Front during last summer’s war.
Ometz head, Professor and Attorney Michael Corinaldi declared Monday that it is clear that the probe by State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss has revealed enough deficiencies and damage to merit a probe by an independent state commission of inquiry.
The threat was in response to growing pressure on the committee to abide by a court order to publish censored testimony of the Prime Minister, Defense Minister and former IDF Chief of Staff prior to the publication of its interim report. The court order was agreed upon prior to the Passover holiday following a petition by Meretz MK Zehava Gal-On, but the committee has since backed down from the commitment, saying the decision when and what to publish belongs to the committee alone.
Army Radio reported that the members of the committee who have threatened to resign if the testimony is published are Dr. Ruth Gavison and Gen. (res.) Menahem Eitan.
Chief Justice Dorit Beinish blasted the committee Sunday, saying the committee’s backtracking on its commitment was the result of controversy following the reporting of Vice-Premier Shimon Peres’s testimony that he would not have gone to war. "You simply regretted [your commitment] after one of your witnesses expressed his dislike for something," Beinish said.
MK Ami Ayalon (Labor) said Tuesday that Winograd Committee members were “terrorizing the Supreme Court” and undermining the public’s trust in the state-picked members’ findings.
IDF reservist groups and the families of fallen soldiers reacted harshly to the committee’s resignation threats, calling the members “tools of the government” and insisting the public has the right to judge for itself whether the war was a failure.
Sources close to committee members denied that the government was influencing the committee, and said that the threats were made to favorably influence the court, and that in reality the members have no intention to resign.
The watchdog Ometz organization called on State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss Monday to publish his report on the government’s management of the Home Front during last summer’s war.
Ometz head, Professor and Attorney Michael Corinaldi declared Monday that it is clear that the probe by State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss has revealed enough deficiencies and damage to merit a probe by an independent state commission of inquiry.