Israel: the knives come out

I'm sure it will surprise no one to say that a reckoning is coming in Israel.  The IDF was humiliated.  The war against Hezbollah was a complete failure.  Hezbollah may well emerge stronger, while the government and nation of Israel saw its position weakened.  

Someone will have to go down for this.  The in-fighting in Israel is going to be brutal, as everyone moves to blame everyone else.  Already, the battle has started.

Halutz is the obvious target.  He is under fire for selling his stock portfolio just before the war began.  If he is wise, and I suspect he is, he will allow himself to be sacked for this extremely stupid action.  It's much more dignified than forcing the government to fire him for extreme incompetence.  That always looks bad on a resume.

But things are going further.  Defense Minister Peretz is moving very quickly to deny any blame.  From Haaretz:

Defense Minister: IDF didn't warn me of missile threat in the north
...In private conversations over the past few days, Peretz said officers did not tell him there was a strategic threat to Israel, and did not present him with all relevant information about the missile threat.

"Conclusions should not be drawn regarding individuals while the battle is still being fought," Peretz said in these conversations, leading listeners to believe he is waiting for Chief of Staff Dan Halutz to resign.

This is silly, of course.  Hezbollah's arsenal has been in the news for years.  The fact that Peretz would make a stand on such a weak claim shows how dangerous a time it is in Israeli government.  But Peretz is no fool.  Beyond silly excuses, he's taking real action:

Meanwhile, Peretz's announcement to the general staff that he had appointed a committee, headed by former chief of staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, to examine the events of the war was met with harsh criticism in the IDF and the security establishment.

Security sources said Lipkin-Shahak cannot be objective since he was on Peretz's team of external advisors during the war. Shahak will not be investigating the conduct of the defense minister.

Peretz has appointed his own chief of staff to lead the investigation of the war and has crafted its mission so that he himself cannot be investigated.  Very clever.  Halutz is clearly his target, as the first quote suggested.

Of course, Halutz isn't going down without a fight:

Meanwhile, Halutz told senior officers in a recent meeting that upon his request, IDF information security had given him a list of all phone calls received and made by officers, alluding to the fact that he knew which generals had been leaking information to the press.

Halutz is gathering dirt on anyone who might think to replace him.  A failure of this magnitude can cause a lot of heads to roll, and Halutz is hinting that if he goes, he can take them all down with him.  So maybe he's not smart enough to let himself get pushed out.  He may go down fighting.

The knives are out in the top Israeli military and political circles.  I suspect the casualty count for this battle may turn out to be surprisingly high.