Last update - 00:00 28/03/2007
PMO: Release of Winograd panel findings will harm state interests
By Haaretz Service
The Prime Minister's Office issued a statement on Wednesday saying the High Court of Justice's decision to order the Winograd Commission to release protocols to the public would cause "severe harm to the vital interests of the state."
The Winograd Committee is conducting an in-depth investigation of the government's conduct during the Second Lebanon War last summer. The committee has already released the testimonies of several top officials.
The statement also said that the publication of the testimonies raises "a real and imminent concern... over damage to state security, to foreign relations, and to the relations between persons and bodies that were and continue to be responsible for the security of the state."
The statement comes despite the fact that the protocols will be released only after being approved by censors, who will delete clauses that could harm state security.
The statement was issued after one of the officials at the Prime Minister's Office requested that the Winograd Committee keep part of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's testimony confidential, not because it may endanger Israel's security, but because it could harm Israel's foreign relations.
The statement also maintained that the publication of testimonies could potentially harm future investigation committees, because future witnesses may hesitate to reveal certain things, fearing their testimony would be released to the public. This could hamper the effectiveness of future committees and thus make it more difficult to rectify future failures.
The Prime Minister's Office also denied reports from the Israeli media which claimed that a PMO official had criticized the conduct of the Winograd Committee, and reportedly said that the panel was conducting the investigation in an amateurish way in not making the investigation public from the beginning, and forcing the High Court of Justice to instruct them to release their findings.
The PMO statement maintains that no office official criticized the committee, and stressed that the criticism that was published "is not from office personnel, and definitely does not reflect in any shape or way the opinion or stance of the prime minister," and that Olmert feels it was right and justified to hold the hearings behind closed doors.