What will Barak do?
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Not giving up – Buhadana
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Barak to reservists: I'm still mulling next step
Decision nearing: Defense minister meets with leaders of reservists' protest movement, promises to announce next moves after reviewing Winograd report; reservists urge Barak to quit, say they view him as 'part of solution'
Defense Minister Ehud Barak met with the leaders of the reservists' protest movement Thursday evening and promised to announce his views on the Winograd report in the near future.
During Thursday's meeting, the reservist leaders told the defense minister that they view him as "part of the solution, rather than part of the problem." They reiterated their demand that Barak immediately quit the government, as he promised to do following the publication of the Winograd interim report.
"You are the salt of the earth," Barak told the two leaders, Yakir Segev and Tomer Buhadana. "I will announce my position after I finish reading the Winograd report." In recent weeks Barak repeatedly said that he will decide on his next moves only after reading the report, and that he will do "what's best for the country."
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"If you were there instead of Olmert, you would take responsibility," the reserve soldiers told Barak.
'Accountability the main issue'
Buhadana, who was wounded during the war, told Ynet that the reservists told the minister "many things, including some that were said in the past.""We noted that the question of personal accountability is the essential issue in our discussion, and that officials at Olmert's office are presenting the report as a victory," he said, and added that the prevailing feeling among Israelis was that the prime minister's people were completely disregarding the public.
Buhadana promised that the protest against Barak and Olmert will continue: "On Monday we'll be attending a discussion at the Knesset. We're just asking Barak to deliver on his promise."
Earlier Thursday, Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu convened a press conference where he also called on Barak to quit the government.
Roni Lifshitz contributed to the report
