There is no room for reserve soldiers in a democratic country to tell the leaders what is right, Defense Minister Ehud Barak
said Monday during a Labor faction meeting at the Knesset.
The defense minister chided the reserve soldiers and bereaved families' demand that he resign ahead of the publication of the Second Lebanon War
probe report, which is scheduled to be submitted to Barak and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
on January 30.
| War Report |
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| Final Winograd report to be published on January 30 / Aviram Zino |
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Commission charged with probing Second Lebanon War to submit its final report end of the month. Report expected to be harsh, but not include personal recommendations |
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"When the final Winograd report is released, I will read it and act only according to what is right and best for the State of Israel,"
he added.
Barak told the Labor faction members that some of the meeting attendees were parents of soldiers killed in the Second Lebanon War.
"Among us are parents from bereaved families. Their sons were killed in the Second Lebanon War, and we all understand the sacrifice.
"I cannot say that we can understand the depth of the parents' pain and loss, because those who have not experiences it cannot understand it," he said. "We are also aware of the sacrifice and of the duty it imposes on all of us as fighters in the past and as state leaders today."
A reserve soldier who tried to interrupt Barak was stopped by the Labor faction chairman, Knesset Member Eitan Cabel. Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon said, "Stop turning Ehud Barak into the person responsible for this war."
The defense minister went on to say that he had met in person with some of the reserve soldiers responsible for the public campaign calling on him to resign following the report.
"I made my stance clear to them. Their appeal to me is legitimate and in some sense I view it as a compliment. And I say again to the reserve soldiers: We look in your eyes and we look in the eyes of the next war's reservists, and God forbid, the next war's bereaved parents, and I tell you, I know what decisions to make."
One of the bereaved mothers told Barak, "(former Prime Minister Yitzhak) Rabin's greatness was the fact that he knew how to claim responsibility even for his wife's $2,000. And today we see, for some reason, that people think they should not take responsibility. My 20-year-old son knew what to do under the enemy's fire".
The defense minister embraced the bereaved parents and promised to meet with them in the coming days.
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