WINOGRAD REVERBERATES BUT BARAK STAYS WITH OLMERT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 000277 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PINR MOPS KDEM IS LE SUBJECT: WINOGRAD REVERBERATES BUT BARAK STAYS WITH OLMERT REF: A. TEL AVIV 245 ¶B. 239 ¶1. Summary: MOD Barak has decided to keep the Labor Party in the coalition -- for now, and refrained from demanding early elections. His decision led Ma'ariv journalist Ben Caspit to predict that "Barak, who hoped to steal Kadima away from Olmert and to face Bibi (Netanyahu) alone in a year's time, may undergo the opposite experience now. Olmert will steal the Labor Party electorate from him, and confront Bibi by himself." Olmert opponents did not take to the streets during the cold, windy weather of last week, but some bereaved families of soldiers killed during the Second Lebanon War took their protest against Olmert's leadership into the Knesset where they verbally assaulted the prime minister on February 4. In his Knesset address, Olmert accepted responsibility for failures identified in the Winograd report, promised corrective action, and accused Opposition Leader Netanyahu of distorting reality in his criticism of Olmert's leadership during the Second Lebanon War. End Summary. BARAK KEEPS LABOR IN ¶2. Defense Minister and Labor Party Chairman Ehud Barak announced his intention to stay in the governing coalition on February 3, bringing to an end speculation whether the Labor Party would leave following the publication of the final report of the Winograd Committee. Barak told the press before the start of the weekly cabinet meeting "I am remaining in the post of defense minister because I know the challenges that the State of Israel faces. I know that this decision may disappoint some of you, perhaps it will gladden some of you, but I have promised to do what I think is good and right for the country. I may pay a political price for this decision, but I know that there is a state here and an IDF, and there are more important things to all of us and to me." As a result of Barak's decision, four members of the Labor Party -- MK's Pines-Paz, Eitan Cabel, Danny Yatom and Shelly Yachimovich -- declared they would vote against the coalition whenever they see fit to do so. OLMERT ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY, BUT BLASTS BIBI ¶3. On February 3, after absorbing the full report (and Barak's decision to remain),Olmert told his cabinet that the Winograd report had clearly identified "achievements alongside the failures and important successes for the State alongside the failures." He emphasized that Minister Barak and IDF Chief of General Staff Ashkenazi had, "with greater impetus" than their respective predecessors, begun to study the mistakes and prepare the defense establishment to correct them. FM Livni, for her part, chose to congratulate her staff for their role in bringing about UNSCR 1701, and pointedly refrained from repeating her 2007 call for Olmert to resign. BEREAVED PARENTS CASTIGATE OLMERT IN THE KNESSET ¶4. At the Knesset plenary session devoted to the Winograd report on February 4, Olmert accepted full responsibility for all the failures of the war, and pledged to correct the flaws and jumpstart the inevitable changes which must be made. Olmert faced a hostile barrage of criticism from the opposition, and contempt from several bereaved parents in the gallery. One mother asked: "Where were your children? I sent two sons to war and one did not return." A father said he planned to give up his citizenship in disgust. The parents were ushered out, but Olmert responded in kind to Opposition Leader Netanyahu's call for his resignation with a vigorous "J'accuse" of his own: "You who were informed, you who received almost daily updates from me... you who participated in all the main steps and supported them at the time ... Do not give a hand or your voice to the argumentative and inciting tone.... Allow the grief and the bereaved parents to speak without mediators and political and party motivations." KNESSET VOTE REVEALS KADIMA AND LABOR REBELS ¶5. The Knesset members present voted on the Prime Minister's statement, which received approbation from 59 members and opposition from 53. While this vote did not constitute a formal "vote of no confidence," its closeness did demonstrate that rebels within the Kadima (2) and Labor (4) parties constitute a potential threat to coalition stability in the future. The leader of the Kadima rebels, MK Avigdor Yitzhaki, is expected to resign his seat, a move that would usher in a new MK from the Kadima list, but MK Marina Solodkin will remain. On the Labor side, former Defense Minister Peretz and Minister without Portfolio Ami Ayalon were not present for the vote. Ayalon, who is mourning the TEL AVIV 00000277 002 OF 002 death of his father and had been one of the Labor party candidates who, like Pines Paz and Danny Yatom, had called for Olmert's resignation last year, expressed his support for Barak and Labor to remain in the government. ********************************************* ******************** Visit Embassy Tel Aviv's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/telaviv You can also access this site through the State Department's Classified SIPRNET website. ********************************************* ******************** JONES