Last update - 00:00 12/06/2007
Mofaz: I tried to influence war, but my advice was turned down
By Haaretz Service
Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz told the Winograd Committee investigating the Second Lebanon War that every time he tried to intervene in order to influence the course of the war, his advice was rejected and criticized.
According to testimony released Tuesday, Mofaz told the committee that it was not his job to be in charge of government decisions.
"What I should have said, I should have said in the most polite, detailed way and at the right time," Mofaz said in his testimony to the panel.
Mofaz was considered one of the central witnesses called to testify before the committee, due to the fact that from 1998 until shortly before the war he served as either Israel Defense Forces chief of staff or defense minister.
Mofaz also maintained that after the kidnapping of IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev on July 12, he recommended severely pounding Hezbollah for a couple of weeks, and not "for a day or two."
He said that the IDF should have attacked Hezbollah posts and Lebanese infrastructure, without harming civilians. When asked how Israel could do that, Mofaz answered: "In any way cabinet members decide to."
The transportation minister reiterated that his involvement in the government's decisions was the most it could have been. "I don't have the responsibilities of a defense minister, I only have the responsibility of a cabinet member," he said.
Regarding the call-up of reserve soldiers, Mofaz said: "When calling up reserves, it has far-reaching consequences beyond the actual call-up - a reality has emerged where anything the army recommends, we approve."
"From the moment they [the IDF] decide on a plan of action and bring it to us, all that's left is to support the plan or disagree," he said.