Israelis take aim at leaders

DVORA WAYSMAN

Last week, close to 200,000 Israelis gathered in Tel-Aviv's Rabin Square, to convey the message to our prime minister and defence minister: "Olmert and Peretz, Go Home."

The fallout from the Winograd Commission interim report is so scathing that virtually everyone in Israel is discussing it. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah appeared on television to crow triumphantly that the report proved beyond doubt that Israel had lost the Second Lebanon War.

But did we? A research paper published by Harvard University, which examined media coverage of that war, concluded that Hezbollah succeeded mainly in using the media as a weapon against us. As a closed sect, they had total control of their daily propaganda. Hezbollah managed to link religious fundamentalism to Arab nationalism to win the hearts and minds of the Arab world. To do this, they limited access to Western reporters, "orchestrated" events and manipulated journalists by threatening expulsion if they didn't follow their rules.

But it was not the media that came under fire at the Tel-Aviv rally. Thousands of Israel Defence Forces reservists are angry and demanding an accounting from the government and from the IDF general staff. At the rally were the families of the 119 soldiers and 39 civilians who lost their lives, perhaps unnecessarily, and residents of the north and south who are still bombarded almost daily with rocket attacks. It was Ehud Olmert himself who appointed the Winograd Commission, probably not expecting the scathing report on his own performance during the 34-day war.

According to the report, Olmert hastily led the country into battle with no comprehensive plan, used poor judgment and must bear ultimate responsibility for a war that has emboldened our enemies. The report details the ignorance of both Olmert and Defence Minister Amir Peretz, and the arrogance of Dan Halutz, the former IDF chief of staff. In just two hours, on July 12, 2006, the cabinet made a decision that was disastrous in every way for Israel. Now, Olmert is fighting to remain in office to "remedy the failures," but Israelis believe that political, public and military pressure will force him to step down.

The mood in Israel is sombre. The IDF is already preparing for the possibility of future conflicts – maybe even this summer. Practical conclusions are being implemented from the report, including upgrading military intelligence with an investment of hundreds of millions of shekels. The report criticised the fact that the army's ammunition stockpiles were severely lacking and the emergency warehouses contained outdated and inadequate equipment.

One of the Israeli public's biggest fears – shared by Palestinian Authority officials – is that Olmert might order a massive military operation in the Gaza Strip to divert attention from his failings as outlined in the Winograd Report. The whole population feels insecure and scared that we will soon be dragged into another conflict for which we are still unprepared. However, we have woken from our slumber and are on the road to recovery. We don't know how quickly it will happen but, most importantly, we, the public, have found our voice.

Dvora Waysman is a Jerusalem freelance writer.

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