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Olmert is not Golda
By Uzi Benziman
Tags: Ehud Olmert, Golda Meir

When the echoes of the Yom Kippur War died down, a consensus took hold among the public to the effect that the prime minister, Golda Meir, should not be held responsible for the war's failures. When the Lebanon War ended in 1982 the public absolved the prime minister, Menachem Begin, of responsibility for its complications, including the Sabra and Shatila massacres. These popular responses were confirmed by the respective decisions of the Agranat and Kahan commissions, which investigated the failures of the two wars.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, however, is now expected to bear the sin of the failure of the Second Lebanon War; and this conclusion reached by the public has already received confirmation in the Winograd Committee's interim report. Olmert deserves an answer as to why the public is being stricter with him than with his two predecessors.

Golda Meir was acquitted in the court of public opinion because she was seen as a quintessential civilian, without any real understanding of security issues. She had at her disposal an expert and experienced defense minister (Moshe Dayan) who supervised the operations of the Israel Defense Forces on her behalf. The spontaneous reactions to the outcome of the Yom Kippur War reflected a distinction between the responsibility of the prime minister for the failures and that of the defense minister.
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The Agranat Commission praised Golda's functioning on the eve of the war and during it, and was forgiving toward Dayan's behavior (among other things it determined that he had no particular responsibility stemming from his security background), thus creating a sharp distinction between the responsibility of the political leadership and that of the military leadership.

The army's supreme command was found responsible for the erroneous conduct that led to the outbreak of the war and to its problematic development, and it was this body that was required to answer for that. In other words, the commission, along with the general public, ruled that the disappointing results of the campaign did not stem from the flawed functioning of the prime minister, but rather from the Israel Defense Forces inadequate performance.

Begin was not blamed for the failure of the Lebanon War in 1982 because he was considered a prime minister who lacked any real security background, who placed the management of the country's security issues in the hands of a well-known expert, Ariel Sharon. The Kahan Commission confirmed this viewpoint when it ruled that Begin was allowed to rely on the optimistic and reassuring reports of the defense minister. The commission also ruled that Sharon had not involved Begin in the critical decision: To allow the Christian Phalange to enter the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.

The commission did not expand on that (except for expressing surprise at Sharon's behavior), but today we know that under Begin's nose, in June 1982, a clandestine operational plan was implemented, which brought the IDF to Beirut. In other words, the public did not hold Begin to account for the disappointing outcome of the First Lebanon War because it was attributed to the behavior of the IDF under the leadership of the defense minister.

Olmert, however, now stands accused by public opinion, in spite of the fact that he is a civilian inexperienced in military matters, because he did not have the wisdom to appoint an authoritative defense minister. The choice of Amir Peretz (or Olmert's acceptance of this irresponsible choice by the Labor Party) is what is leading Olmert to the political scaffold.

Although the Winograd Committee's interim report expressed a forgiving attitude toward the prime minister regarding Peretz' appointment (when it ruled that it did not consider it a failure, because it was a decision whose circumstances were political), it ruled that Peretz had "failed in carrying out the entire range of his duties" and Olmert was involved in every stage of the decisions leading to the war and to its development.

In other words, the person who entrusted the defense portfolio to a man who looks at the battlefield through covered binoculars accepted the responsibility of navigating the course of the war on his own, and therefore bears personal responsibility for its outcome and its cost.

If this diagnosis does not convince Olmert, he should recall that in the final analysis, both Golda and Begin paid the requisite public price for their moral responsibility for the failed wars that were waged under their command. Golda resigned from public life under the pressure of public opinion, and Begin became a recluse in his home because of the pangs of conscience caused by the war.

Sooner or later, Olmert will also have to vacate his seat.
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  1.   A total package 05:45  |  Michael N 02/01/08
  2.   Zion lost its light ! 09:11  |  Atilla Karagözoğlu 02/01/08
  3.   Arabic Nights on Zion World has started ! 09:13  |  Atilla Karagözoğlu 02/01/08
  4.   Mrs. Golda Meir made THE LAST DANCE OF ZION 09:14  |  Atilla Karagözoğlu 02/01/08
  5.   The Black Eye RETURN for Zions, now ! 09:18  |  Atilla Karagözoğlu 02/01/08
  6.   The Sun never rised on ZION ! 09:22  |  ... 02/01/08
  7.   When will Olmert get the "boot"....??? 09:22  |  Swiss (Dino) 02/01/08
  8.   BLACK CLOUDS ON ISRAEL ! NOW 09:23  |  Atilla Karagözoğlu 02/01/08
  9.   why you have changed THE WORDS OF TORAH ? 09:29  |  ... 02/01/08
  10.   How many RABIES you need to make people believe in Torah, now ? 09:30  |  ... 02/01/08
  11.   Who can ABLE TO save THE ZIONS now ? 09:32  |  ... 02/01/08
  12.   should I go on ? 09:42  |  ... 02/01/08
  13.   HE AND ISRAEL DESERVE EACH OTHER 10:19  |  indrajaya 02/01/08
  14.   This article sounds quite correct! 10:35  |  S 02/01/08
  15.   Tear Down Olmert Gov`t , Obliterate Kadima Policies 11:20  |  Joseph E . 02/01/08
  16.   uzi benziman is a hypocrite 11:42  |  harzion 02/01/08
  17.   we lost 116 soldiers in the war 11:51  |  harzion 02/01/08
  18.   we lost 116 soldiers in the war 11:53  |  harzion 02/01/08
  19.   ISRAEL DESERVES OLMERT 12:14  |  indrajaya 02/01/08
  20.   ISRAEL DESERVES OLMERT 12:17  |  indrajaya 02/01/08
  21.   Will Olmert quit before or after Israel´s destruction? 13:03  |  Bo 02/01/08
  22.   Begin doesn`t have real security background??? 13:25  |  Sharif Hafez 02/01/08
  23.   is the pope a catholic? is olmert incompetent! 13:30  |  victor hardman 02/01/08
  24.   #6attilla the hun and the risen sun !! 13:40  |  victor hardman 02/01/08
  25.   #7 dino the compromise is for arabs to enter the arab palestine 13:42  |  victor hardman 02/01/08
  26.   the alternatives are even worse 14:10  |  mike 02/01/08
  27.   Golda and Olmert. 14:27  |  sandra chitayat 02/01/08
  28.   Olmert was the initiator and architect, unlike Golda and Begin 14:59  |  Tosefta 02/01/08
  29.   The many Olmert mistakes in the Lebanon war 15:00  |  Tosefta 02/01/08
  30.   .... AND GOLDA WAS NOT A SAINT 15:12  |  TrippleJump 02/01/08
  31.   Six of one, half a dozen of the other 15:26  |  Natallie Durson 02/01/08
  32.   Getting rid of Olmert alone wont solve the problems 16:55  |  zionist forever 02/01/08
  33.   You could hold a gun to Olmerts head and he still wouldnt resign 17:02  |  zionist forever 02/01/08
  34.   tosefta you are the unprecedented failure 18:00  |  ilovedorothy 02/01/08
  35.   tosefta dayan was no expert on military matters 18:04  |  ilovedorothy 02/01/08
  36.   tosefta "there need not have been a war" 18:06  |  ilovedorothy 02/01/08
  37.   tosefta "if a nation cannot defend itself against 18:10  |  ilovedorothy 02/01/08
  38.   Toseftas selective memory 18:13  |  Danite 02/01/08
  39.   Return of the shallow multi-headed Hydra/Ilovedorothy 18:15  |  Tosefta 02/01/08
  40.   tosefta you do not know israeli military history 18:16  |  ilovedorothy 02/01/08
  41.   tosefta "israel should have sent motorised columns to the litani" 18:20  |  ilovedorothy 02/01/08
  42.   Olmert has failed 18:20  |  Frank 02/01/08
  43.   tosefta "israel should not have attacked infrastructure" 18:23  |  ilovedorothy 02/01/08
  44.   XII. Danite uses his diplomatic and military expertise #38 18:28  |  Tosefta 02/01/08
  45.   tosefta the site has a right to hear your response 18:33  |  ilovedorothy 02/01/08
  46.   #45 War errors (as posted right after the war) 18:48  |  Tosefta 02/01/08
  47.   tosefta "it was schlesinger who dragged his feet" 18:48  |  ilovedorothy 02/01/08
  48.   tosefta and the third army 18:51  |  ilovedorothy 02/01/08
  49.   tosefta "war errors" 19:08  |  ilovedorothy 02/01/08
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  53.   tosefta "unrealistic goals" 19:20  |  ilovedorothy 02/01/08
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  55.   tosefta the easiest of questions 20:15  |  ilovedorothy 02/01/08
  56.   #13 INDRAJAYA As usual, wrong again 20:16  |  JOJO 02/01/08
  57.   Uzi Benziman: Classic Example of Today`s Non-Writers 20:20  |  Ovadiah ben Avraham 02/01/08
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  62.   Our verbally diarrhetic "flushman"; aka Ilovedorothy #55 23:56  |  Tosefta 02/01/08
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