JERUSALEM — In the first such movement in nearly 25 years, hundreds
of Israeli reserve soldiers have organized to topple the government and
military leadership.
The reservists, backed by family and supporters, have launched a
vigil in front of the home of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Middle East Newsline reported. Organizers said
the protest, the first since the aftermath of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, was
designed to force Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and Chief of Staff
Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz to resign.
"We are in a crisis similar to that after the Yom Kippur War," Knesset
member Matan Vilnai, a former deputy chief of staff, said.
The new movement, which has not yet been adopted by any political party,
appeared to be the biggest threat to the government and military leadership.
The reservists said Olmert, Peretz and Halutz prevented Israel from beating
Hizbullah during the 33-day war that ended on Aug. 14.
"The heavy feeling that in the echelons above us there is nothing but
under-preparation, insincerity, lack of foresight and inability to make
rational decisions, leads to the question: were we called up for nothing?" a
letter by members of the elite Spearhead Brigade read.
Reservists from the Alexandroni Brigade have already met Halutz, who is
expected to resign amid health problems, in what was termed a tense
discussion over the war in Lebanon. The reservists said the military failed
to provide even such basic needs as water and food to combat troops.
"There are questions of trust that could have operational
repercussions," parliamentarian Ephraim Sneh, a senior member of the Knesset
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said.
The government has sought to block efforts to establish a state
commission of inquiry, which would be headed by a judge, to examine the war.
On Monday, the chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense
Committee, Tsahi Hanegbi, refused to approve a call by a majority of members
for the inquiry.
"What are we going to do now?" Olmert asked. "Stand them [military
leadership] in a line and slap their face? Try them? Put them in front of
commissions of inquiry each and every day, so they won't be able to properly
assess the next conflict because they will be afraid we shall come
complaining to them?"
Last week, Peretz appointed a committee to examine the military's
conduct of the war. But on Monday the Defense Ministry froze the
investigation in expectation that an independent commission would be
established.
"All of the officers feel the same way and I have no response to this,"
Israeli Cabinet minister Eitan Cable, who serves in an elite reservist unit,
said. "There has to be a commission of inquiry. There must be answers."
State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss said he plans to begin his own
investigation into the war. Lindenstrauss said his staff would collect
documents and protocols to determine accountability.
The reservists were bolstered on Aug. 20 during a change of command of a
senior officer. Brig. Gen. Yossi Heyman, who left as the infantry commander,
said the military leadership failed its troops during the war.
"We were guilty of the sin of arrogance," Heyman said. "We all feel a
certain sense of failure and missed opportunity. I failed to prepare the
infantry better for war. I did not manage to prevent burnout among
professional companies and platoons."
