Former Israel army Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz will testify on Sunday before the Winograd Committee. The committee is a group investigating the decision-making process of military and political leaders on their performance during the Lebanon war.
Officials believe Halutz will blame Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz for the war’s failures.
Halutz is expected to present documents, including summaries of internal military briefings, indicating that Peretz pushed the military to go to war against Hizballah, opposing recommendations for an isolated response.
The former chief of staff will be asked about Israel Defense Forces preparations for the war and why training for active and reserve units have decreased over the years. He will also need to answer questions of intelligence.
The committee is expected to ask why ground operations for the war were delayed and why there was a failure to reduce the number of rockets fired during the war. Halutz is expected to speak of a wide-scale operation, but not of a war.
The committee will question a number of other candidates after Halutz and submit a report to the High Court.