I remember those days well, and I was among those who chimed in for Peretz's ouster as MOD. Give credit where credit is due I always say, and if in fact Peretz has been the driving force behind technology saving Israeli lives I commend him and hope his reputation is salvaged.

For Iron Dome.

some defence people may have wanted iron dome, but I did back them as it was clear to all that a missile defence was necessary even if ehud barak did not want it. Barak has a h istory of making lousy decisions outside of his area of expertise like advocating withdrawal from the west bank. You might as well dismantle israel as the arabs cannot be trusted on security, now or forever. Winograd said peretz was a failure as was olmert in security matters and that was evident in the war. His signing off on iron dome was not revolutionary as any half wit would have gone for it. You are out of your bloody mind like most of the writers for haaretz including ravid. So far, barak is steady, cool, applying more pressure, not letting up. However, he is also joined by lieberman, yaalon, ahronovitch and begin and others who will not let him weaken as happened to livni under pressure wanting to stop and negotiate with abbas as if he could be trusted on security. No arab now or ever can be trusted on security. Cold armistice arrangments are the best that can be had with israel controlling security points. What israel can offer arabs for peace is the promise not to attack them. And that is it-end of story.

Thank you Mr Amir Peretz for your brave decision ...

Ditto.

Are you trying to rehabilitate the guy before it is too late ? What I think is the Iron Dome is quite costly but not quite efficient . This anti-missile system is succeeding in shooting down crude rockets which are fired in single shots . Have you ever thought how unsuccessful the Iron Dome would be in shooting down dozens of salvoes of oncoming rockets fired at the same moment by Hizbullah or Iran ? Have you ever considered how this system could be fooled by salvoes of dummy rockets fired in the beginning to drain the system of its missiles , only to be followed by salvoes of genuine rockets ?

He clearly is not. I for one come cap in hand. The man is a lateral thinker, he has proved that now - maybe back then it wasn't the best position for him to be in, but he did have a vision and that vision HAS saved lives. Well done Sir.

stop laying . all you are trying to do is sell the company that made this system. I can not believe how can people fall for these tricks, you are full of lies. any one with some engineering background will know that such a system will never work against high speed missiles. its like making a bullet shoot a bullet. give me a break. stop laying. even if this works at %50 hit reate it is still useless.

this advanced system into being, as a benefit & protection for Israel.

Thank you Mr. Peretz for your vision and for your wise decision to develop the Iron Dome system. And thank you Mr. Shushan for making us all aware of Mr. Peretz's role in Iron Dome. Sometimes people don't receive the credit they deserve until awhile after their good deeds or good decisions. Mr. Peretz, now is the time for you to be gratefully acknowledged and told: Good job and thank you so much!

The Lebanon War was an abject failure! Next thing you'll be asking us to do is get on our hands and knees and praise Livni for... the1701 Surrender, Kadima'spullout from Gaza, Hamas elections, Rafah border crossing surrender, secret talks with murderer Assad....

If this was his project, then definately many owe him an apology, many owe him big thanks. I thank him! Goes to show, if your face doesnt fit, nothing helps.

Great article - couldn't have said better myself. Definitely deserves some sort of award .

But otherwise I didnt think he was hot stuff.But T G he did support the Iron Dome

Amir Peretz made a number of bad calls, leaving the IDF unprepared for the Lebanon conflict in 2006. Yes, Iron Dome has worked out better than most expected, but it's debatable if one of the other systems being considered, pursued with the same dedication and creativity, might have worked out even better. We'll never know. But we'll give him this one. Just like we give Olmert, another failure overall, credit for bombing Syria's nuclear facility in 2007.

I ought admit I didn't know that butPeretz deserves praise but was it his idea alone ?As for the Lebanon War the perception is mixed .

Reality, peretz supported the withdrawal from Gaza and laughed about the possibility of the arab terrorists shooting missilles from Gaza into israel. Who is laughing now. peretz lost the 2006 lebanon war when he was defense minister. Quite a record of achievement. The story is still out on the success of the arrow system.

Absolutely right

kol a kavot to mr peretz

Thanks for bringing this important fact to the readership. It is easy to forget those that have changed the course of history and in this case military history. Despite the political vilification that he received, he is a true Israeli hero and responsible for many Israeli lives. Israelis and Jews around the world owe him our thanks and gratitude.

G-d bless you.

Amir Peretz is far from stupid ,he could see what most others could not. He was treated shabbily and he deserves better ,much better ,Peretz deserves our gratitude and utmost respect. By the way ,the lens cap on the binoculars incident was unimportant ,we all could make that mistake if we were unaccustomed to using binoculars constantly and regularly. I wish Peretz long life and good health and all the best .

Bravo for Mr. Shoshan for writing such a decent and human story, and Bravo for Ynet (Yedioth Akhoronot) for bringing printing it, and by doing so Ynet has in a very small way, still, helping bringing back Respect and Admiration to a 'lonely dreamer', that his whole enterprise focused on the people, from the South, with whom he has share his long active life with, literaly. History is full of such HEROES, however Mr. Amir Peretz is very much alive and well to contribute to the welfare, security, and honesty to Israel in general, but specifically to the South. Israel for 60 years neglect thhose 'peripheral people' it dumped in the desert without decent standard of living, no infrastructure to the Third Israel-they used to call them-and left them fight for themselves just because they wanted to come to Israel to realise their Jewish dream, rather than going to Canada, South America or France where their countrymen reached the pinacle of recognition in the form of many international prizes in Art, Culture and literature. Among them there are the Prof. Serge Haroche, Prof. Baruj Benassaraf, Prof. Cohen-Tanoudji all Lauretes of Nobel Prize winners. Thank you you Highness Mr. Amir Peretz for saving so many lives.

If it saves one life it will have been a success. Anyways, what possible concern is it to a Jihadist who decieved Canadian Immigration Authorities how well Iron Dome operates. Are your cousins in Gaza complaining to you how their 12th century pyrotechnics are not killing enough Jews? By the way Mo, I am not "laying", I wrote this sitting down.

Amit Peretz Tizkool Mitzvot

please spare us your frustration over the fact that iron dome actually works . Peretz may not have been the best defense minister , but it would be unfair to blame the 2006 war on him . he did not have the authority to stop the decline that had started twenty years prior . he did the best he could