Reserve air force brigadier general Ron Peker, a colleague and close friend of IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz, said Monday that the army chief will resign his post if the Winograd Committee probing the war finds him personally responsible for the military's failures in the war in Lebanon.
"From my acquaintance with Dan Halutz' courage and values, if, heaven forbid, the Winograd Committee finds any fault with him personally, in my view he will be brave, that is, he will draw personal conclusions,"
Peker told Israel Radio.
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"If not, he will remain on target, he knows the goal, and will continue to serve out his entire term."
Peker's remarks followed a statement Sunday by Defense Minister Amir Peretz, who publicly promised to resign if the government-appointed Winograd Committee investigating the second Lebanon war concludes he is responsible for the Israel Defense Forces' failings.
Peretz made the pledge at a meeting at the Defense Ministry with parents who lost their sons in the war.
Peretz's met Sunday night with the parents of nine soldiers killed in the Lebanon war at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv. The meeting was tense, and the bereaved families expressed their disappointment that the IDF investigations have had little impact on the careers of individual officers.
So far, only two officers have resigned their posts due to post-war IDF probes: GOC Northern Command Udi Adam and Division 91 Commander Gal Hirsch.
"As a result of these investigations, one would think that the IDF performed admirably," said David Einhorn, whose son, First Sergeant Yonatan Einhorn, was killed in the war.
Peretz said the IDF is undergoing changes, and he did not intend to intervene in internal investigations.
Moshe Muskal, father of another victim, First Sergeant Refanel Muskal, criticized the defense minister over his attitude, and said the feeling among the bereaved families is as if nothing had happened and everything is back to normal.
The parents criticized Peretz for not taking responsibility and resigning. In response, he said that if the Winograd Committee finds him responsible, he would quit.
He added that he would not wait for the committee's final conclusions, and would resign on the basis of the committee's interim report if it is warranted. Peretz made the point in response to complaints by the parents that it would take some time before the Winograd Committee issued its final report. The interim report is expected to be completed in a few months.
The parents also expressed concern over recent new IDF appointments, particularly Major General Gadi Eisenkot as GOC Northern Command. During the war, Eisenkot was in charge of Operations at the General Staff.
"We have been trying to understand the inclinations of the [defense] establishment and received no answers," Einhorn said. "Personally, I'm worried about the coming war."
"I told him (Peretz) that [the coming] war is not ours. We have already lost our children, and we are now fighting for the families that are today walking around and do not know that they are potentially bereaved families," said Haim Tzemach, father of the late First Sergeant Oz Tzemach.
Peretz also promised the families that in the near future, the war in Lebanon would receive an official name.
The parents complained that their children's gravestones are missing the war's official name, which was painful.
Peretz also promised that the families will receive reports over the circumstances of the deaths of their children in three to four weeks and not several months, as previously promised.
The parents also asked that the gap in payments to bereaved families of conscripts and reservists be reduced. According to current regulations, families of conscripts who were killed in action receive about NIS 66,0000, while families of reservists get more than NIS 300,000.
Peretz promised to look into the matter.
"In technical matters, the meeting was important and serious," Einhorn said.
Halutz will open a two-day conference Monday morning, which will be attended by the IDF's most senior commanders at an air force base. The gathering is to focus on the conclusions of the IDF's in-house probes over its performance in the war, and how the lessons can be incorporated into plans this coming year. Among the central issues to be discussed are improving reservists' preparedness, including equipment and training, bolstering the standing army's units, acquiring new equipment, gathering of intelligence, and enhancing cooperation and coordination between various forces.
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