IDF action against the continued Kassam rocket fire will be decisive, Defense Minister Amir Peretz told Channel 10 Sunday evening. "We need to act. We need to target the people who are causing the escalation. What we received today was more freedom to act. The moment we decide on harsh action, it will be a decisive action," he said. Okay. That's a brag. Now you've got to live up to it.
Peretz also said that after the Labor party primaries were over, he intended to leave the Defense Ministry, and that he was rethinking his position in the government.
"I've been thinking I'd really be happier in the food service industry..."
Clearly influenced by the Winograd Committee's interim report, security cabinet ministers met Sunday for more than three hours on the situation in Gaza, heard an array of policy options, and asked a number of "pressing" questions. No operational policy decisions, however, were made, and the discussions on how to deal with the Hamas buildup in Gaza and the Kassam rocket fire on the western Negev will continue either later this week or next week. This was the first post-Winograd security cabinet meeting, and government officials said it was clear that the participants had internalized the Winograd panel's findings.
"Really, we're Winograd to the core!"
The Winograd Committee was harshly critical of the army for not presenting the government with various options, and of the cabinet ministers for not asking penetrating questions when the IDF brought its plans for the Second Lebanon War for approval. Sunday's discussion, according to government officials, was "both broad and in-depth," with plans presented by the IDF, its Military Intelligence unit, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), the National Security Council and the Foreign Ministry. No approval was given for a broad ground operation inside Gaza, something that IDF officials have been recommending for some time.
That's a relief. That would be precisely the wrong move.
Nevertheless, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reportedly said at the meeting that if IDF action inside Gaza was needed that went beyond what had already been approved, then he and Defense Minister Amir Peretz were empowered to give the green light. The ministers heard briefings on the flow of arms into Gaza, the Kassam rocket fire, the threat of kidnappings of IDF soldiers along the border, and the danger that the growing anarchy inside Gaza may lead to stepped up terrorism against Israel.