Prime Minister Ehud Olmert attacked Minister Ophir Pines-Paz on Wednesday for his comments against the war in Lebanon.

"You're either in or you're out," Olmert told Pines-Paz. "Either you cooperate or not. You cannot be a bleeding heart. Either there is joint responsibility or there isn't."

Pines-Paz said in an interview that the Israel Defense Forces ground offensive in Lebanon was unnecessary.

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"The price was painful to me. From the first moment, I knew the operation had no chance. And from the first very moment, there was not a sliver of a chance to secure any goals within the determined timeframe," Pines-Paz said in an interview with the Hebrew daily Maariv published on the eve on Yom Kippur.

In a Tuesday interview with Israel Radio, Pines-Paz said his comments to Maariv were topical criticism of government decisions. He emphasized he also made similar statements during government meetings and during the course of the war.

Pines-Paz said the public has a right to know what opinions were held by government ministers. He added he has no intention of leaving the government and said that so long as he is able to share in responsibility, he has a right to express irregular positions.