Leadership is all about Responsibility

By
Mike Packer


Israel’s Leadership, Olmert, Livni and Barak should be all indicted for dereliction of duty!

Eli Hertz ( http://www.mythsandfacts.com) in a newsletter of August 26, 2008, brings to task Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni over her handling of Resolution 1701:

“She insists that the outcome of the resolution is in Israel's favor, but anyone who reads the fine print can clearly see its futility.

Is it ignorance, or blatant lies?”

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Her insistence has backfired on Israel in a way that threatens our existence. Hezbbollah has been rearming in total violation of 1701 and the UNIFIL commander Major General Caudio Graziano has refused to agree with the facts on the ground.

The Resolution was adopted under Chapter 6 of the UN charter and ‘lacks the legal authority or enforcement power whatsoever” according to Hertz which means that Livni, who is a lawyer, must have known that this was the case and should not have pressured for its adoption.

Hertz goes on to mention that:

Hesham Youssef, chief of the cabinet of the Arab League Secretary-General speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly simply stated: "The resolution is issued under Chapter 6 rather than Chapter 7 of the UN Charter ... [This] is a diplomatic achievement" of the Arab League. In other words, the Arab League welcomes the weakness of the resolution which lacks enforcement power to "ensure implementation" of Resolution 1701.

So, again, the lame duck government of Israel has played into the Arab hands. Livni’s claim that the cease fire was a success was just a way of throwing sand into the eyes of the Israeli population. This so-called “success” caused the death of 33 soldiers, many more wounded and did nothing to protect the citizens of the country, the prime objective of any government.

According to Hertz, Livni is quoted as saying:

"We wanted to ensure that this embargo would be enforceable and substantive, preventing the transfer of arms ... to Hizbollah. ... Now the embargo is part of the UN resolution and the terms and formulation of this article are acceptable to Israel and express our opinion - a proper embargo."

He then goes on to postulate that:

Resolution 1701 never even mentions the word embargo and does not set-forth an enforcement mechanism or any enforcement power. It seems as though the Minister did not read the resolution.

Livni said:

Israel "Will be getting UNIFIL with a completely different mandate, which includes the right, the option and the authority to use force when required."

But the facts are:

UNIFIL - a Paper Tiger - is not authorized to use armed force or to impose in any forceful manner the implementation of the recommendations of UN Resolution 1701. UNIFIL's right to use force is strictly limited to self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter. Major-General Alain Pelligrini [France] then the Force Commander of UNIFIL made it clear: "The disarmament of Hezbollah is not the business of UNIFIL."

So, is this the action of a person who is in the position of responsibility? I think not and call for her indictment for gross negligence and dereliction of duty.

As for Barak and Olmert I would like to quote from DebkaFile (http://www.debka.com/):

DEBKAfile Special Report
August 27, 2008, 12:47 PM (GMT+02:00)
[……]The geography of the accident Tuesday, Aug. 26, belied the reiterated claims of Israeli ministers and UN officials that Hizballah’s rockets had been pushed back from the Lebanese-Israeli border, under the terms of the Resolution 1701 ceasefire which ended the 2006 Lebanon War.
Jamal Amin Salah, 51, a Hizballah operations executive, stood on the rooftop of a building at the Lebanese Yaroun village, less than half a kilometer from the Israeli border. He was discussing with his men how far inside Israeli territory the rockets installed at the launch pads in the village could reach, when he fell to his death.
DEBKAfile’s military sources confirm that, not only has Hizballah returned to its old positions on the Israeli border - contradicting statements by prime minister Ehud Olmert and defense minister Ehud Barak - but the Iran-backed Shiite terrorists are working feverishly on the construction of a new line of fortified military positions, including rocket-launching pads, right on top of the Israeli border fence.
Neither Israeli Defense Forces nor UN peacekeepers have interfered with this barefaced violation of international agreements.
That is the reason that Olmert and Barak should go the way of Livni. Responsibility, responsibility, responsibility.
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