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Paula R. Stern is the Founder and Documentation Manager of , a technical writing company. More of her articles can be found on her .
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By Paula R. Stern
September 10, 2006
When several major media organizations refer to recent demonstrations calling for a state inquiry into the government's handling of the War in Lebanon (Part II), they chose the word "mismanagement." Did Ehud Olmert mismanage the government's stated mission and the internal functioning of the home front protection? Did Amir Peretz and Dan Chalutz mismanage the performance of the IDF?
"Mismanage" is a politician's word used to cover what really happened and luckily, the Israeli public is smart enough to know better. More appropriate words can be found to describe how the Olmert government acted before, during and after this 34 day period and only a state inquiry can research and expose the government's real performance and decision-making processes.
What occurred was nothing short of "gross incompetence." At the highest levels and to the highest degrees, the government bungled the situation at home and dangerously miscalculated the war in Lebanon.
At home, people were left to evacuate (or not) on their own for much of the war. Thousands booked themselves into vacation resorts further south to escape and it was out of the goodness of the Israeli heart that most hotels and hostels lowered the prices for them. This voluntary evacuation of over 400,000 people saved countless lives but should have been an organized and funded operation of the government so that the elderly, the sick and the poor were not abandoned.
Instead, it was left to those like Arkady Gaidamak, the Moskowitz family in the US, and thousands of Israelis to donate millions of shekels to evacuate and house refugees and to buy critical supplies for the army. As generous as these donations were, they should not have been necessary because the government should have assessed the danger to the population and either evacuated or protected them adequately. But again, this is the government that failed to properly meet the needs generated by the planned creation of 9,000 Gush Katif refugees, so why should anyone be surprised that Olmert couldn't even fathom the need to see to 400,000 sudden refugees? Where was the Kadima government?
The government should have known what the army needed before it sent it to war, not after. If the only answer was the evacuation of the north, than all residents, not just those with the ability to leave, should have been removed. If critical military equipment had been relocated to the Gaza front, it should have been brought north before ground forces were sent in.
Instead, money and food was made possible by banks who chose extraordinary methods to get cash to the effected areas and to hundreds of thousands of volunteers who baked or bought, packed and shipped off tons and tons of food to these areas. Again, but for the heart of the Israeli, northern conditions would have been much worse. And again, where was the Olmert government? Kadima into chaos.
On the war front, soldiers went into battle missing important equipment. Our own synagogue helped spearhead a project that brought more than $140,000 of personal items such as socks, underwear, shampoo, etc. right to the border, under fire, to supply these items to soldiers as they headed into war. Where was the Olmert government?
Incompetence was the name of this war at the start. The kidnapping of Gilad Shalit, one might argue, took the army by surprise (though there were warnings in effect suggesting that Hamas was going to try this very thing). But how is it possible that only two weeks after Hamas succeeded in invading Israeli territory murdering several and kidnapping one soldier, Hizbollah attempted and succeeded in doing the same thing, this time kidnapping two soldiers? Why was the elevated state of alert on the northern border lowered? This is incompetence, not mismanagement.
What occurred was nothing short of betrayal, not mismanagement. Starting with the Shalit, Goldwasser and Regev families, who were told that their sons were the important purpose behind decisions made by the Olmert government, time after time, the great military mantra of not leaving a soldier behind was expressed by government and army personnel. We went to war because we are a nation that is one with our army. These are our sons that were taken when our land was invaded. Where are Gilad, Ehud and Eldad today?
The Olmert government betrayed those living in the north as they have betrayed those living in Sderot and Ashkelon, and as they betrayed the people living in Gush Katif for years. Of all the nations in the world, only the Israeli government allows its people to be attacked and shelled with impunity. From the twisted policies of the Sharon government that was elected on a platform of peace and security (and delivered neither), to the current Kadima government that thinks surrender and convergence is the roadmap to peace, our government continues to abandon large areas of our country to the fortunes of the wind and the grace of God. This is betrayal.
And finally, the Chief of Staff has every legal right (and no moral right) to sell his personal stock hours after learning that our soldiers had been kidnapped. The ramifications are clear to everyone. Israel was a nation about to go to war. Dan Chalutz, above all others, knew that Israel would not, could not stand by for yet another kidnapping and the fact that it occurred only two weeks after a previous kidnapping only a short while after he had ordered the lowering of the alert status in the north, does not let speak well for his actions. So, in the hours after the kidnapping, as the army was frantically preparing for war, where was his mind? What did he think about? His personal stock. This is betrayal, not "mismanagement."
Cowardice in the face of the enemy, rather than mismanagement was also seen in this war. The Olmert government failed to live up to its commitments and turned its words into lies so many times, it is hard to keep track. To avoid Goldwasser and Regev sharing the same fate as Ron Arad, the soldiers must be kept in Lebanon and not be transferred to Iran or another hostile location with its own political agenda.
The naval blockade of Lebanon was created for this purpose, and yet today, Lebanon's territorial waters are open to all, as is the border with Syria. Arms are being smuggled in, rockets being restocked and the fate of the two soldiers is anyone's guess. Olmert's patronizing comment that the families have every right to their anger merely shows his lack of sensitivity, but his real crime is one of perfidy and cowardice, not mismanagement.
And finally and most likely worst of all, what occurred is that troops were sent unprepared and ill-advised into battle, leading to their deaths. In any other language besides politician-ese, this would be called murder. Israel has some of the finest, most modern and technically advanced weaponry in the world. How is it possible that our boys were sent into Lebanon lacking body armor, helmets, and even food and water? That Israeli citizens had to drive into a war zone to bring necessary personal items is distressing. That soldiers were sent into battle without the required equipment is not mismanagement.
For the crimes of incompetence, betrayal, sheer stupidity, cowardice, and ultimately causing the deaths of its soldiers due to negligence, the government must answer.
A state inquiry is a start. But resignation and new elections must be the only two remaining stations on the roadmap of the Olmert government.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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