Government Ignores Calls, Delays Public Inquiry Decision 17:45 Aug 27, '06 / 3 Elul 5766 by Hillel Fendel

As calls mount for a public inquiry into the government's mishandling of the war, the government refuses to discuss the issue - and PM Olmert brags to the Cabinet of the war's achievements.

While dozens of demonstrators from around the country stood outside the government complex this morning (Sunday) to demand a public inquiry, the Cabinet did not even deal with the issue.

One of the reservists leading the protest campaign that the government's refusal to discuss the issue shows "once again that Olmert and Peretz are detached from reality and cannot take responsibility for their failures."

Instead, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert took advantage of today's meeting to tell the ministers how much better Israel's position is now than before the war:
"If someone were to say, a month and a half ago, that there would be a multi-national force, that the UN Secretary-General [Kofi Annan] would say that it could disarm Hizbullah, that the Lebanese Army would deploy in the south, that there would be an arms embargo on Lebanon and supervision of the crossings - and all this with the IDF in Lebanon without us being dragged into clashes - and that there would be an maritime and aerial closure on Lebanon - they would say he was fantasizing."

A total of 119 soldiers have been killed in Lebanon or war-related incidents over the past seven weeks, and 41 civilians were killed by Katyusha rockets.