Hail of Criticism against Olmert over Lebanon War

 Source: Al-Manar, 05-02-2008
For hours, "Israeli" Prime Minister Ehud Olmert sat stone-faced in the Knesset, absorbing the hail of criticism and scorn over the Second Lebanon War.
In a speech at the Knesset plenum on Monday during a session dedicated to the Winograd Report on the Second Lebanon War, which was released last week, Olmert began his speech by defending his decision to go to war and stressed that he bore the ultimate responsibility for the war's failings. He admitted that there were failures, but said he would make the same decision again.
The families of "Israeli" soldiers killed during Lebanon War retorted by assailing Olmert and calling him "impudent." One mother whose son was killed during the final week of the war, was heard yelling at Olmert, "My son died during the war! Where were your sons?"
Another father called on him to resign. "You are not my prime minister, I relinquish my citizenship," he shouted, and was consequently removed from the plenum by security guards after refusing to quiet down. Several other parents, who were outraged by this move, followed him outside.
In the plenum, Olmert took several moments to recover and appeared visibly shaken. "I take full responsibility for the failures. There is no effective democracy without accountability and I accept that. I'll use this responsibility to fix the faults, implement the recommendations and jump-start the changes. I began with this the day after the war and I will continue with it [ceaselessly]."
The "Israeli" media said that MKs from the opposition heckled Olmert relentlessly, and called for his immediate resignation. "The prime minister is evading responsibility. It won't help to put the responsibility on the people, the opposition, on me personally. We all supported the war, and even today we wouldn't take it back... But we didn't support the failed management of the war," said opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu (Likud). He mockingly added that the government clearly did not know the meaning of responsibility, and should return former defense (war) minister Amir Peretz and former "Israeli" army chief of General Staff Dan Halutz to power.
"You won the war for your own survival, but the State of "Israel" lost. A state is not a reality show, and therefore you must quit," Meretz MK Zahava Gal-On told the "Israeli" prime minister. "You should have resigned after the release of the partial report," Gal-On added, and defined the war as "the Lebanon casino", saying, "You gambled with soldiers' lives in order to secure a public opinion victory."
Barak: Olmert's Speech Cynical, Troubling
A day after he gave new life to Olmert's premiership by announcing that he would remain in the government, "Israeli" Defense (War) Minister Ehud Barak vowed Monday to bring down Olmert - eventually after he decided to absent himself from the debate on the Winograd Report. Barak was quoted as saying that Olmert's speech at the special Knesset session was "cynical and troubling," and "it would have been better had [the speech] not been made."
According to the Jerusalem Post, Barak also responded to charges from his critics in and out of the Labor faction, who warned him that Olmert and Vice Premier Haim Ramon would take advantage of his loyalty to keep the government alive and then take away Labor's votes. "No one will destroy me politically," Barak told a confidant at the Knesset. "Olmert is the last one who can destroy me politically. I will find the right time in the not too distant future to topple the government." Barak continued to threaten Olmert later in a meeting of the Labor faction.
The Post predicted that the heated exchanges between their staffs after the debate proved that the new chapter of the Olmert-Barak government that opened this week will be stormy and ugly. Barak may remain in the government for another six months or a year, but he will take his ‘pangs of conscience' out on Olmert, the daily said.