Olmert: I won’t resign

Ehud Olmert said that although “serious mistakes were made, mainly by me,” during the Lebanon War, he will not resign.The Israeli prime minister spoke Monday following the release of the Winograd Commission interim report, an official inquiry on Israel’s 34-day conflict with Hezbollah. The report harshly criticized Olmert, as well as Defense Minister Amir Peretz and former army chief Dan Halutz over their actions during the first five days of the war with Hezbollah. The committee singled out Olmert for “lacking
in judgment, responsibility and caution” in entering into the conflict,
and being a passive leader who did not take charge of the 34-day war. Shortly after telling his Kadima Party faction that he had no intention of resigning his position, Olmert reiterated his stance at a news conference. “This is a serious and difficult report. There were
mistakes by the decision-makers, we need to start to fix the
shortcomings; there’s much to be done,” he said. “The presentation of the report opens a new chapter of fixing mistakes and learning lessons.”