Lebanon war claims its biggest scalp

Israel's prime minister will probably survive the resignation of his chief of staff, but he may fall foul of political scandal, writes Rory McCarthy

Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem
Wednesday January 17, 2007
Guardian Unlimited


General Halutz talking with the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert. Photograph: David Silverman/Getty Images

Five months after Israel’s war in Lebanon, the battle has claimed its most senior scalp with the resignation of the Israeli chief of staff, General Dan Halutz.

Although public protests about the handling of the war have faded in Israel, opinion polls continue to show widespread disillusionment with the government and the senior military leadership as a result of the 34-day fight with Hizbullah.

Gen Halutz’s surprise resignation came after several internal Israeli military inquiries into the conduct of the war but before the major investigation into the conflict, known as the Winograd Commission, delivers its interim findings, which are due in February or March.

In his resignation letter Gen Halutz spoke of taking “responsibility” but he pointedly admitted no failures or mistakes in the conduct of the war in Lebanon. In the letter, addressed to the prime minister, Ehud Olmert, he said: “In order to lead, we must carry out our responsibility. Therefore, after completing my mission for now, I wish to inform you that I plan to end my role as chief of staff immediately.”

Ze’ev Schiff, Israel’s most respected military analyst, said he was surprised by the timing of the resignation. “My feeling is that he wanted to dictate the way and date of his resignation and not to wait for others to do it for him,” he said. He said Gen Halutz, an air force officer, had overseen an unprecedented process of review and internal inquiry since the war.

There has been considerable debate in Israel about the summer conflict, and particularly the failure of the announced government policy to crush Hizbullah and to secure the release of two Israeli soldiers whose capture on July 12 triggered the war. There has been a long debate about the decision to use ground troops, who only moved in to southern Lebanon in large numbers towards the end of the conflict. The war claimed the lives of more than 1,000 Lebanese, including an unknown number of Hizbullah fighters, and 159 Israelis, of whom 39 were civilians.

“I don’t accept that this was a real collapse or defeat,” said Mr Schiff. “It is true there were problems but maybe easier problems that the Americans and the British are facing in Iraq ... It was a problem of strategy and the misunderstanding about how to achieve the objective.”

Gen Halutz will in the coming weeks give evidence to the Winograd Commission and as a civilian some believe he might be more likely to give revealing testimony about the discussions held between politicians and the military during the war. “It will be easier for him to answer certain questions,” said Mr Schiff.

But the focus will rapidly shift to the defence minister, Amir Peretz, and Mr Olmert, both of whom have also faced repeated public calls for their resignation and who both may face criticism when the commission reports.

“My analysis is that many of the military mistakes were a direct result of the very problematic way that the objectives of the war and the general plan of the war were defined,” said Shlomo Brom, a former chief of strategic planning in the Israeli military and now an academic at the Jaffee Centre in Tel Aviv University. “The problem was the interaction between the political and military leadership and the decisions that were taken as a result of that.”

Gen Brom said the commission could yet force the resignation of Mr Olmert: “If the report is very negative and attributes to him personal responsibility for different mistakes and management that I think he will have no alternative but to resign.”

The prime minister is also facing his own troubles. Just hours before Gen Halutz resigned, Israel’s state prosecutor said it was beginning a criminal investigation into Mr Olmert over his involvement in the sale of a stake in an Israeli bank when he was finance minister. At least two other political cases involving Mr Olmert are being studied and may yet lead to more criminal investigations. Israeli prime ministers have been investigated while in office in the past without being charged with any crime, but many say that while Mr Olmert might survive the fallout of the Lebanon war, he may be brought down by political scandal.

“Olmert’s problem is not the chief of staff,” said Mr Schiff, the analyst. “His problem is the other investigations.”