Winograd: Military prosecution has gone too far
In cynical and harsh response to petitions filed against publication of war probe committee's final report, members write, 'We were aware of the fact that the military prosecution has an important role, but did not know that it is capable of predicting the future'
In a harsh and cynical document, the committee members wondered who the military prosecution was representing and asked to "settle the score" with it.
The committee's response was submitted to the High Court following the military prosecution's demand to issue warning letters to officials expected to be harmed by the committee's recommendations, as well as by the findings and report expected to be released by the end of the year.
"The Winograd Commission is shirking the clear and unequivocal commitments it had taken on itself to send the appropriate notices to those who may be harmed by the final report," said Chief Military Defense Counsel Colonel Orna David.
In its response to the court, the committee members said, "We were aware of the fact that the military prosecution has an important role in providing IDF officers and soldiers with legal assistance, but we did not know that the military prosecution has supernatural powers and is capable of predicting the future, knowing what will be written and what won't be written in the Winograd Commission's final report.
"And it also knows, today, that what will be written in the final reports will ignore the ruling of an honorable court."
The committee members failed to hide their discontent with the petition, writing that "this time, it is difficult to treat the petitioner with respect. This time it seems that the military prosecution has gone too far."
According to the Winograd Commission, the content of the petition and the demands it raises "are absurd."
"Not only is the military prosecution's petition absurd in its actual implementation, but from a legal point of view, it appears that the military prosecution's demand violates every balance between the different rights and interests in the activity of a commission of inquiry.
"It's a shame – a great shame – that a senior authority in the Israel Defense Forces is attempting to hurt the committee, which only aims to improve the failures," the committee members concluded.
