The Arab member of Knesset Mohammad Baraka said that he does not rule out an Israeli mlitary offensive against Gaza especially following the Winograd Committee report which blamed the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, his Minister of Defence Amir Peretz and the former chief of staff Dan Halutz for the failures of the war against Lebanon.Baraka’s comments come as Olmert is facing several calls to resign following the report.
A recent poll by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, one of Israel’s most read, which came 24 hours after the release of the Winograd report, shows that 40 percent of those asked favor elections.
The results concerning Prime Minister Ehud Olmert were the most interesting as 68 percent want him to resign.
Haaretz assert that this is not a strange percentage; an almost identical percentage has appeared in previous polls on this question.
It will not be strange to see a wide scale military offensive against the Gaza Strip orchastrated by Peretz and Olmert to save face of the war defeat in Lebanon, by the Hezbollah Guerilla (July 12 to August 14).