Olmert to Barak: You've Shown There Was No Value to Cast Lead

Here is a must-read: Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has admitted there was no value to the recent Operation Cast Lead:

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert slammed Defense Minister Ehud Barak... over Operation Cast Lead and the continued rocket fire from Gaza.

"What the defense minister is suggesting proves that there was no value to Cast Lead, because after crushing them (Hamas) we now have to accept, according to your proposal, the conditions that were offered to us before the operation," blasted Olmert, turning to Barak. "That's the truth, nothing else,"

The confrontation began during an assessment given by OC Military Intelligence Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin, who said that from Hamas's point of view, the "agreement" had been put aside. Olmert interrupted by saying, "In my view, there was no agreement with Hamas. I want to clarify, that on my part, there were no discussions about an agreement."

It follows the disagreement between Olmert and Barak over the prime minister's insistence that the opening of the Gaza crossings be conditioned on Schalit's freedom.

"We entered into a truce in June 2008. The negotiations were conducted by the security establishment and led by the defense minister," Olmert continued at the weekly cabinet meeting.

"The defense minister's stance then, as now, was unclear, not precise, not explicit, not in writing," he said. "We agreed that on the critical issue of preventing arms smuggling we would rely on one individual, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Service) head, that he would be our yardstick. Back then, the defense minister said that if arms smuggling continued, we would respond immediately, and that we'd also respond to any attacks, including mortar shells. However, reality unfolded differently."

"...Two things were clear to us: one, that if we hadn't accepted the truce, Cast Lead would have been carried out in June 2008, and the second thing was that the truce actually brought about Cast Lead."

Public Security Minister Avi Dichter told the cabinet that in the last few days, anti-aircraft missiles had been smuggled into Gaza.

"The transfer of arms from Egypt to Gaza is continuing," he warned. "Hamas is restocking its supplies and upgrading its caches of weapons and ammunition."

"The effect of Cast Lead has melted away in the last month," continued Dichter. "Attempts to carry out terror attacks from Gaza are continuing on a daily basis, and on average, five rockets and mortar shells are fired per day."

"Hamas is seeking to rebuild its infrastructure, and we have to continue to hit that terror infrastructure and tunnels," he stressed.

Dichter criticized Egypt, saying it was not bringing results as far as stopping arm smuggling was concerned.

"The notion that Egypt has toughened its stance is not being realized on the ground," he said. "Israel needs to examine the results, and when we look at Hamas's preparedness for a new round of fighting, the results are problematic."

In fact, no one should be surprised that there was no (or little) value to Operation Cast Lead, since, as this blog has asserted repeatedly, the recent war in Gaza was just a pre-election political stunt. It does come as a bit of a surprise that soon-to-be-former Prime Minister Olmert would admit the failure and attack Defence Minister Barak over it, since they were 2 of the 3 main actors behind the stunt. Perhaps he let himself be convinced by his own rhetoric...