"I said the vacuum that was created when we left was filled immediately
by Hizbullah in its complete strength," Sneh said. "I said before the
pullout, 'We will come back and fight on the ground in Lebanon. Don't fool
yourselves.' That was not the most popular thing to say at the time."
Sneh has long warned of the decline in Israeli military strength. He
said budget cuts have eliminated or hampered numerous classified defense
programs.
The Israeli parliamentarian said Hizbullah represented a powerful and
confident military organization. Sneh said Israel must conduct a large-scale
invasion of Lebanon to uproot the Hizbullah presence.
Sneh also said he opposed the conduct of the 34-day war, particularly
the military's failure to stop Hizbullah rocket strikes into Israel. He said
the
government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert refused to declare a state of
emergency in an effort to save money.
The commission, led by former Justice Eliyahu Winograd, has issued a
series of recommendations in wake of the Lebanon war. One of the
recommendations called for a website meant to provide alerts of missile
attacks.
On Sept. 23, the Israeli military's Home Front Command launched an
on-line service at www.oref.org.il that would provide emergency information
and audio-visual instruction manuals. The service would provide information
in Arabic, English and Hebrew on impending missile attacks and other crises.
"The Home Front Command, which sees great importance in the relations
with the Israeli population, is now in the frontline of technology," Home
Front Command chief Maj. Gen. Yitzhak Gershon said. "The new website
reflects the lessons learned from the second Lebanon War."
