No Explanations, Just Excuses (Haaretz Editorial)
Excerpts;
The High Court of Justice has asked the state to justify why no state commission of inquiry was appointed to examine the second Lebanon war, and why the less appropriate government review panel was chosen. But the state will not be able to justify it convincingly at the next hearing either, because only excuses can be made for the state’s behavior, not explanations.
Not a single good reason has been offered for preferring a government review panel, leaving only the obvious reason. A government review panel is more convenient for the government, both because the reviewers were appointed by the prime minister himself and because the government is not obligated to accept its recommendations or even to publicize them.
A state commission of inquiry is always less convenient because its members are appointed by the president of the Supreme Court and its rules are clear and laid down in law. The undocumented, nonbinding and social meetings between members of the Winograd committee and some of those under investigation before the committee began working, would not be possible with a state commission.
A review panel appointed by Ehud Olmert and approved by the cabinet that conducted this war will not provide a response to the widespread malaise, even if it makes every effort to operate with integrity and professionalism. Each new report by the state comptroller or the press, each controversial interview, will reawaken the question of why the investigation was not handed over to a state commission of inquiry, which would have rendered all parallel investigation irrelevant.
Two months have passed since the fighting ended, and the whispers haven’t stopped. There is no sense of drawing conclusions but of settling accounts and sidestepping responsibility. Time is passing, and it seems like soon an investigation of the government’s problematic post-war conduct will be necessary.