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FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5268
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
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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. 
 
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JONES