Yaakov Peri
Photo: Chen Micha
Former Shin Bet chief: Gov't hesitation will go down in history
Yaakov Peri says hesitance, not defense budget shortage, caused failure in war
According to a statement by former Shin Bet Chief Yaakov Peri, in a conference in Eilat, "the government's hesitation to make a decisive move will be recorded in the annals of history as the hesitance of a government to win a battle that it chose to fight."
Peri attacked the decision making process of the government. "The reserves soldiers were called up full of motivation, but when they received contradictory orders and stood in the field waiting to become a fatal statistic such as in Kfar Giladi, it decreased their motivation to fight."
"A water shortage will always exist in wartime, but when there is decisiveness and esprit de corps, you can win. When there is a feeling that the government is hesitant, the decisiveness melts away," he added.
Peri stridently attacked Defense Ministry claims that placed the blame of the war's outcomes on holes in the budget. "There's no proof that a budget surplus leads to a better army," he said. "Sometimes a wasteful army leans more on technology than creative thinking."
Additionally, Peri claims, even had the government invested more money in the defense budget, the results of the war would not have been any different. "Even had all tanks been fortified and every soldier received night vision goggles, the results would not have been different.
"The results were as they were because of the government was determined to manage the war based on who caused the most damage instead of who would win the war. Despite…logistical issues, we could have destroyed Hizbullah."
The former Shin Bet chief was also critical of the government's neglect of residents of the north. "The most painful failure of the war, which was tantamount to a national crisis, was the fact that the government abandoned the weak and the old and the children and left the way open for the private sector with a conscience to take care of residents of the north."
Peri also attacked the government's behavior in recent days, stating that the government commissions of inquiry would be inefficient and are in effect to appease public opinion. "We don't need commissions of inquiry, but rather political stability. We can't restore the public with an atmosphere of crisis and emergency elections."
