From Ha'aretz, Jerusalem

A far cry from Ben-Gurion

The war has united the Israeli public - in its distrust for leaders who act without thinking

Yoel Marcus
Saturday August 19, 2006
The Guardian

Never has a new government with a line-up of fresh faces and ambitious goals been entangled in so many foolish affairs within such a short span of time as that of Ehud Olmert: a president suspected of sexual harassment; an environmental affairs minister accused of election bribery; a justice minister facing charges of indecent behaviour; a chief of staff who liquidated his stock portfolio two hours before the war; a defence minister who wasn't aware of any missile threat; and a prime minister who raced into war without due consideration of its justness and consequences.
Much has been said and written about the wisdom of launching a full-scale war instead of making do with a retaliatory operation after the kidnapping of two soldiers; about the first Israeli government to allow its citizens to be bombarded by 4,000 missiles from a terrorist organisation; about a million Israeli refugees making a beeline from north to south; about the tremendous loss of life and property. Who would have imagined, with all our military might, that we would not be victorious in a war where Israel was Goliath and Hizbullah was David?

Blindly, without thinking, Israel volunteered to leap for the second time into the Lebanese bog. With an army of reserve soldiers sitting there until the multinational force arrives, it's only a matter of time before Hizbullah creeps out of its lair and batters us with roadside bombs and suicide bombers.

At the moment, it doesn't feel like things are under control. It is far from certain that the Olmert administration has an agenda that will allow it to survive another three-and-a-half years in office. What we do know, sizing up this war, is that the government operated backward. First it acted, and then it sat down to think.

David Ben-Gurion used to shut himself up for days before important decisions. Rather than look before you leap, the Olmert administration was guided by the opposite principle: leap before you look. The bombastic threats against the enemy, the promises of a new Middle East, the talk about disarming Hizbullah and ending the rocket fire - it was more a shot in the dark than a premeditated plan.

The outcome of the war has exposed our weak points. Apart from President Bush, who says we won, our overuse of air power and the huge damage we inflicted on Lebanon and Lebanese infrastructure have prompted the world to change its mind about the justification of our actions. Hizbullah survived with most of its arsenal intact, and can always count on its patrons to replenish it. That, and the fact that it stands a good chance of becoming part of the Lebanese establishment and winning the elections, has prompted Assad Jr to rattle his sabre.

Israel is still toying with the dangerous idea of bumping off Hassan Nasrallah. When his predecessor, Abbas Musawi, was assassinated, Hizbullah blew up a major Jewish centre in Argentina, and we were saddled with an heir who is wilier by far.

In the old days, when a Jewish mother wanted to brag about her son, she would say he had the head of a cabinet minister. Today, it might be grounds for libel. With a million refugees wandering the country, millions of dollars of economic damage and the trauma of thousands of missiles hitting our homes, there is no question that the public is going to rethink its trust in a government that indulges in such hasty decision-making. With so many questions in the air and a political tsunami on the way, it's time to get set for early elections.

· Yoel Marcus is a columnist for the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, where a longer version of this article first appeared Haaretz.com