The Knesset State Control Committee decided Wednesday not to launch a formal commission of inquiry into the Winograd Commission despite comments by committee member Prof. Yechezkel Dror in early February that political considerations caused the commission to shy away from criticizing individual political leaders about decisions made during the 2006 Second Lebanon War.

However, the committee did censure Dror for admitting to the Jerusalem Post and Hebrew-language Ma'ariv newspapers that his Winograd colleagues "softened" the final Commission report, issued on January 30, in order to protect Prime Minister Olmert and the political negotiations currently underway with PLO elements in the Palestinian Authority.

"The committee is sorry Prof. Dror decided to air his opinions in public," said a spokesman for committee chairman MK Zevulun Orlev (NU-NRP), adding that the discussion into the matter was now closed."

Political Considerations

Dror told the Hebrew-language mass circulation daily Ma'ariv, on February 6 that political considerations were a legitimate consideration for Winograd members in light of what he called the group's "responsibility" to safeguard the current and future interests of the State of Israel.

"If we believe the prime minister will advance the peace process," he said, "that is a very respectable consideration. The peace process, should it succeed, will save so many lives that it must be given a lot of consideration. We should not look at only one side," he said. "What would be better – a Barak-Olmert government, or new elections that could lead to a victory by (Binyamin) Netanyahu?"

Unable to take back his words, Dror later claimed before the Knesset committee that his comment was not meant to endorse the current left-wing government or repudiate the current head of the Likud Party, and said his comments were widely misunderstood.

"My interviews in Ma'ariv and the Jerusalem Post were intended to help the public decide how to weigh up its opinions. I think I misjudged the public's ability to understand what they were reading," he said.

Chairman Orlev and committee member Limor Livnat (Likud) slammed Dror, saying the statements were "clearly political" and that they cast a dark shadow over the final Winograd Report.

"Prof. Dror clearly called for the public to continue supporting the Olmert government," said Livni. "The cat is now out of the bag, and it is clear that the interviews were nothing but political. His claim that the public 'didn't understand' him is embarrassing and unbecoming for a man of his stature. The public well understands that there is a chance that inappropriate political considerations were present in the background."

Orlev also rejected Dror's claims that he'd been misunderstood, saying any high school student that read the original articles would understand that Dror was calling for people to accept the legitimacy of political considerations as part of the Winograd deliberations.

Self-Appointed Committee

Following the war, Prime Minister Olmert stubbornly refused to establish an independent commission of inquiry despite repeated calls from veterans groups and bereaved families to do so. The Knesset narrowly voted against allowing the Supreme Court to appoint the committee members, instead allowing the government to decide the makeup and mandate of the group.

In essence, the Winograd Commission was a case of the accused deciding on the makeup of the jury that would adjudicate its performance during the war.

At the end of the day, Dror told the Knesset members that were the opportunity to revisit itself for him to address the media, he would chose "different words," but he strongly defended his appearances in the mainstream media following the publication of the Winograd Report.