Victory
10-03-07, 12:40
Israeli backlash to Olmert comments
Sat, 10 Mar 2007 10:24:13
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's admission that last summer's onslaught against Lebanon was pre-planned has provoked anger among Israeli officials.
Olmert told Israeli daily Haaretz on Thursday that last summer's war was planned in advance and before the Islamic resistance of Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers.
Olmert's admission confirms Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah's earlier claims, Al-Manar TV reported.
Senior officers in the Israeli General Staff expressed their anger before the Winograd Commission, which is investigating the war. "If war was planned, why was the Israeli Defense Force left unprepared?" Haaretz quoted a member of Israeli General Staff saying.
Labor Party ministers have also lashed out at Olmert's testimony before the commission. They demanded to know why, "if the prime minister had considered war a possibility, he never bothered to inform them of this until the day the war began."
The Winograd Commission's final report on last summer's war in Lebanon, expected to be released in late July, is likely to include harsh findings against Olmert, War Minister Amir Peretz and former Israeli Army chief of staff Dan Halutz.
The Winograd Commission is a commission of inquiry, chaired by retired judge Eliyahu Winograd, which has set out to investigate and draw lessons from the failures experienced by Israel during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict.
Sat, 10 Mar 2007 10:24:13
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's admission that last summer's onslaught against Lebanon was pre-planned has provoked anger among Israeli officials.
Olmert told Israeli daily Haaretz on Thursday that last summer's war was planned in advance and before the Islamic resistance of Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers.
Olmert's admission confirms Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah's earlier claims, Al-Manar TV reported.
Senior officers in the Israeli General Staff expressed their anger before the Winograd Commission, which is investigating the war. "If war was planned, why was the Israeli Defense Force left unprepared?" Haaretz quoted a member of Israeli General Staff saying.
Labor Party ministers have also lashed out at Olmert's testimony before the commission. They demanded to know why, "if the prime minister had considered war a possibility, he never bothered to inform them of this until the day the war began."
The Winograd Commission's final report on last summer's war in Lebanon, expected to be released in late July, is likely to include harsh findings against Olmert, War Minister Amir Peretz and former Israeli Army chief of staff Dan Halutz.
The Winograd Commission is a commission of inquiry, chaired by retired judge Eliyahu Winograd, which has set out to investigate and draw lessons from the failures experienced by Israel during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict.