'Olmert should be commended for actions during war,' says bereaved father

"I don't think the war was a failure or that (Prime Minsiter Ehud) Olmert is to blame," Yossi Ben-Giat of Kibbutz Nahsholim, who lost his son Corporal Yaar Ben-Giat in the Second Lebanon War, told Ynet Thursday.

Ben-Giat said he did not support the Bereaved Families Forum's demand that Olmert step down. "I've asked them not to speak on my behalf," he said.

Families bereaved by the Second Lebanon War released an alternate war report Wednesday, covering the military and political failures of the Lebanon operation. The report came one week prior to the expected publication of the Winograd report, officially probing the course of the war.

Ben-Giat said he did not agree with one of the key points in the report, stating that had a ground incursion been ordered sooner, the consequences might have been much worse: "The war might have ended sooner, but we would have had hundreds of fatalities; that’s why I don't accept their assigning of blame," he said.

"There was a war. We won by points, not by a knockout. Olmert shouldn't have to go; he should be commended for sparing the lives of soldiers and preventing many other families from becoming bereaved as well."

Among those opposing the alternative war report are members of the Parents Circle - Bereaved Families Forum Supporting Peace, Reconciliation and Tolerance, who work with many bereaved Palestinian families on a daily basis.

Nir Oren, the Circle's director, told Ynet that many bereaved families object to the call for Olmert's resignation: "We call for continuing the dialogue, and anything else resulting in peace… if Olmert acts publicly and maybe even stealthily, to reach an agreement with Abu-Mazen (Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas) then we are all for it.

"No revenge, no justice, will bring back our loved ones," he added. "It's true that a leader should be judged by the results of his actions, but without reconciliation we'll never see an end to the conflict."