Politicians from the left, right, and center said Chief of General Staff Dan Halutz's sudden resignation provided an opportunity for much-needed rehabilitation within the IDF following the summer's fighting with Hizbullah. Ophir Paz-Pines (Labor) said the resignation of Halutz was "part of an inevitable process," and expressed hope that it was "the first step in remedying the crisis of confidence facing the army and the defense establishment, and an opportunity to build from anew the IDF's deterrence." | Amir Peretz and Ehud Olmert have to go, because the entire country, and not just the IDF, needs to be purified. |
| I'm always nervous for some reason when a politician uses the words "the entire country needs to be purified." |
| "Nurse! Give them a national enema!" |
| "Olmert's and Peretz's understanding of national security is close to nil." |
Knesset Member Zeheva Gal-On (Meretz) concurred: "the prime minister and defense minister lack the ethical validity to appoint the next chief of staff [because] the responsibility for the failures of the Second Lebanon War can not be attributed solely to the military's upper echelons, but also to the politicians that made irresponsible decisions during the fighting."
"In a framework where there are so many problems from top to bottom, at the end of the day responsibility lies with the individual at the top of the pyramid, just as in any other profession, reservist protest leader Roni Tzvangenboim said of Halutz's resignation.
However, Tzvangenboim said the sudden resignation signinified only a partial realization of the movement's goals and that the struggle would continue. "I don't sleep at night for fear of the next war. We are not interested in right or left, we are sick of politics, scandals, and failures. We need a complete overhaul from the leadership in the last war, period," Tzvangenboim said.
The protest movement of the families echoed his sentiments, saying that Halutz's resignation was only the first goal in battle to have those responsible for the war's failures be held accountable. "158 deaths should have been good enough reasons for the chief of general staff, defense minister, and the prime minister to resign," the families said in a statement. "We call on the Prime Minister to give the bereaved families, and to the Israeli nation, a chance to recover from his leadership."