Reserves Demo Calling For Gov't To Resign Tonight (Israelis Demand Gov't Resignation Alert)

(IsraelNN.com) A group of reserve soldiers, who were recently discharged and are setting up a forum, have called upon Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz, and Foreign Minister Tsipi Livni to resign. Tonight the soldiers will be holding a demonstration at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv at 7p.m. The demonstration is expected to be the first of several, under the banner, “You failed – resign!”

In a petition publicized by the forum, the public is asked to sign the following: “We are very worried about the fate of the country. From all ends of the political spectrum, we are calling upon the government, headed by the prime minister, to take personal responsibility for its failure and resign. We believe that we have the power as individuals rallying together, to declare, ‘Never again!’”

Is Benjamin Netanyahu a hardliner?

Pretty much - he's comparable to Churchill, having been stuck in the political wilderness for years, warning about the coming storm.

I thought Olmert was supposed to be a skinny Sharon.

More like a Jewish Neville Chamberlain or Jimmy Carter.

Let me just say that I hate urban warfare. However, the Rumsfeld Doctrine will not win any war, only battles where there is a clearly superior technology.

The Israeli's should of cut-off Lebanon at the Letani River on day one and squeezed. Once surrounded the Hezzies could of been dealt with in very short order. None of the running and hiding in Beirut. Wars on the cheap (limited) will be the downfall of the West.

Guess you wanted to wait to respond till the perfect plan was in place.

The point isn't that the plan was not perfect, but rather that the politicians threw it out, and "winged" it. Political leaders need enough military, and for that matter other non-political, experience to know when they are being given the smoke and mirrors treatment, and when to listen to their experts. The current Israeli leadership, and some of ours, (Rumsfeld was a Navy pilot) don't really meet that requirement.

Perhaps you should do your homework before you act all knowing. Right now, I am thinking the Isreali veteran knew more about his army than you do.

Aramaic: Gamla ("the Camel")
Fortified hillside town in the Golan 7 miles east of the Sea of Galilee, built on inaccessible slopes below a ridge shaped like the humps of a camel. Gamala was the hometown of Judah "the Galilean," who led a tax revolt against the Romans in 6 CE & whose descendents were leaders of radical revolutionary factions up through the war with Rome. Josephus reinforced the fortifications of the city; & it was the last settlement in the north to hold out against the Romans [67 CE]. Rather than submit to capture the defenders jumped to their death in the ravines below. For modern archaeologists the primary importance of Gamala is its 65' x 53' synagogue, the only undisputed structure for public Jewish worship datable to the early 1st c. CE that has yet been discovered in Palestine.

References:

Josephus, Antiquities 13.394-396; 18.4;
_____, War 1.105, 166; 4.4-8, 11-54, 62-83;
_____, Life 46-47, 58, 61, 114, 177-179, 183-185.

For further recent information about archaeological & historical evidence, see:

Rousseau, John J. & Rami Arav. Jesus & His World. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995) pp. 100-104.

Gamala: The Northern Masada. Selections from Josephus about Gamala, including his eye-witness account of the Roman siege.

Gamla. Donald D. Binder provides detailed photos & archaeological sketches focused on the excavations of the synagogue [SMU].

Archaeology in Israel: Gamla. article about the site, its history & artifacts in The Jewish Magazine (March 2000).

Reserve Soldiers Speak Out

Last update - 07:51 18/08/2006
Reservists: Officers stopped us from attending anti-war protest
By Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondent

Some 160 infantry reserve soldiers are accusing their commanders of preventing them from participating in a demonstration against the war in Lebanon, which they called a "debacle." The soldiers said they had been used as "sitting ducks."

"I've been in the army and reserves for 26 years and what happened this time was not merely a fiasco, it was a complete debacle. We felt like tin soldiers in a game of Olmert and Peretz's assistants and spin masters," said Avi, a soldier in the brigade.

At noon Thursday 160 brigade soldiers signed a request to take part in the demonstration that would call on the resignation of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz. However, their release was put off until Friday, preventing them from reaching the protest.

The only hope that Israel has at this time is that the reserve soldiers that were called into this stupid war are going to keep the feet of the politicians and their lap dog in the IDF Halutz under fire so that the cowards in the opposition in the Knesset will be forced to do something to bring Olmert down.

But just causing the fall of Olmert is not enough for the very leaders in the Knesset that sit in opposition have sat in former ruling governments that have allowed the IDF to fall into such a state of neglect.

Reserve soldiers that have not received training for 5-6 years are suddenly called up and forced into combat after only firing one or two magazines of ammo, though their rifles less than 60 bullets.

By contrast the unit where I was in charge of the training used to fire hundreds of rounds of ammo each week in training.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.