Peretz's Whitewash Attempt

On the face of it, Amnon Lipkin-Shahak is an outstanding choice to head the commission appointed by Defense Minister Amir Peretz to investigate the IDF's preparations for and handling of the war.

He is a former IDF chief of General Staff, Knesset member and minister, and now a captain of industry. Who has a more suitable resume to take all the elements into consideration and draw valuable conclusions?

But as more details come out on the commission's plans - including a six-month timeline and an extremely limited mandate - it's beginning to look like a pathetic attempt to whitewash the campaign's mishandling.

Shahak is actually one of the worst possible candidates for the job - if one believes that the war's less-than-successful outcome should lead to serious thinking about how the IDF prepares itself for war. This is not only because he was personally involved behind the scenes, as a member of Peretz's unofficial team of advisers, but also because of who he is, an integral part of the old Israeli establishment.

Shahak was one of the founders of the short-lived Center Party, and for a while thought himself a potential prime minister. In his own eyes at least, the ex-paratrooper, a recipient of two medals of valor and a media darling, embodies all that was once pure and exalted in the good, old Israel.

Shahak's image is pristine - but there is little innovation behind it. At the time, he was regarded as a genius and a charismatic chief of General Staff, but after he left the army, people suddenly realized that Shahak had changed very little, if at all.

Upon entering civilian life, Shahak enlisted as a senior member of the anti-Netanyahu camp. It wasn't a matter of ideology: the prime minister who was seen as a threat to the elite's old order was Shahak's natural enemy.

There is no reason to believe that he has changed since then, either. Shahak is still inherently adverse to change. He will not be the one to rock the boat.

In a period when a president and a justice minister are being investigated for sexual misconduct, and chief rabbis and generals are suspected of financial impropriety, the last thing anyone needs is too many awkward questions about the war. Shahak is the safe pair of hands for the job. He'll apply whitewash in straight lines.