It doesn't depend on Winograd

To replace a government, an opposition must coalesce and enough Knesset members must want elections. Meanwhile, no one is proposing a new agenda, and everyone seems to be comfortable in their padded chairs, with the wait for the committee's recommendations just an excuse to do nothing.

This reveals a certain amount of political infantility. The committee's investigation of the truth and summary of lessons is indeed important, but the public already knows enough to draw conclusions about the individuals involved. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's part in the operational decision-making is not important, nor is whether responsibility falls on him and the chief of staff equally. Nor is it important whether Olmert planned the war months ahead, or initiated it on the spur of the moment. It is hard to find a single citizen today who would want Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz in charge of the next potential war - that is the main thing. Does the Winograd Committee have to recommend to the heads of state that they give up their offices, or is a general lack of faith - in terms of security, at least - enough to bring together an opposition to change the government?

The bitter disappointment caused by the second Lebanon war should have shaken our very foundations, but the storm died down the moment the Winograd Committee was established, as if the country had time to waste while the committee debated the lack of talented leaders. If not for public pressure, even Dan Halutz would not have gone home. Now, similar pressure should be created to replace the leadership. It is impossible to discuss the Iranian threat seriously while placing it in the hands of Amir Peretz and Avigdor Lieberman.

At the end of May, the Labor Party will hold elections for its candidate for prime minister. But if these elections continue in the quiet vein that has typified them so far, if Ehud Barak sees himself only as a candidate to replace Olmert's defense minister, the country will continue to be bogged down by trivial matters. Politically speaking, Labor's election day is more important than the Winograd report release date. Peretz disappointed his voters not only because he chose the defense portfolio and found himself in a war he most likely did not expect, but also because his contribution to government policy before and after the war was not felt, and because he agreed to take on Lieberman as a partner. Now is the time to see whether Labor knows how to draw conclusions.

The Winograd Committee's speed is dictated by the large amount of material to be studied, but the committee is not supposed to be pulling the political and public chestnuts out of the fire. If the committee decides not to make recommendations regarding individuals, but rather only to draw conclusions, as has been intimated, the public will have to do its part.

The war in Lebanon was a failure. The prisoners are still captive. The home front took 200 rockets a day. Will that same government now lead the country into a major military operation in Gaza, and continue its diplomatic passivity and ignorance of the Saudi initiative, the Syrian initiative and changes in the Palestinian government?