Last update - 00:00 11/03/2007
War inquiry focusing on PM's choice of Peretz as defense min.
By Mazal Mualem, Haaretz Correspondent
The issue of Amir Peretz's appointment as defense minister is central to the discussions of the Winograd Commission, which is investigating the second Lebanon war. Labor sources said over the weekend that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was attempting to evade responsibility for the appointment.
The commission has asked several cabinet ministers, including Labor Party members, whether they felt it was appropriate for a prime minister with no military experience to appoint as defense minister someone with neither knowledge nor experience in national security issues.
Some of the ministers said afterward that the commission members demonstrated great interest in the appointment of Peretz, despite the fact that the issue was a matter of political considerations during coalition talks. Both Olmert and Peretz were questioned by the commission about Peretz's appointment.
Olmert, according to accounts of his testimony reported last week in Haaretz, said that under the coalition agreement, the defense portfolio was given to Labor, which chose the appointment.
Associates of Peretz said it would be inappropriate for the Winograd Commission to refer to his appointment in its recommendations, since Peretz had been a candidate for prime minister.
Peretz told the commission that as a civilian heading the country's military establishment, he had the ability to put the right questions to the army.
Associates of Olmert said that despite the great interest shown by Winograd members in the Peretz appointment, the issue was unlikely to be criticized significantly in their report, because it was a political one.
Labor ministers said Olmert's statements about the appointment were problematic, because instead of standing behind the move, Olmert passed the buck to Labor even though he knew that were it not for him, Peretz would not have been made defense minister. They pointed to Olmert's refusal to appoint Peretz as finance minister to support their argument.
"It's the testimony of a lawyer," Labor ministers said, "not of a prime minister who is supposed to demonstrate leadership. The appointment of Peretz was a legitimate political deal that enabled Olmert to form a government."
In the Labor-Kadima coalition agreement as submitted to Labor's central committee, Amir Peretz was listed as defense minister, while the other portfolios reserved for Labor were nameless. In secret meetings between Olmert and Peretz last April, attended by Olmert aide Uri Shani and Peretz aide Rachel Turjeman, it was agreed that Peretz would be named defense minister and deputy prime minister.
At the time, Olmert's associates noted that while the country's economy would be endangered with Peretz heading the treasury, appointing him to head the defense ministry was less of a problem because the prime minister oversees military policy and the defense ministry is nothing more than a liaison between the government and the army.
"When Olmert appointed Peretz, he knew he didn't have any military experience and there was a lot of criticism over that," one Labor minister said.