Media weigh Winograd report

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/7219725.stm

Version 0 of 1.

The litany of mistakes exposed by the Winograd inquiry is long

Israeli papers see Prime Minister Ehud Olmert surviving in the wake of the Winograd report, but give a mixed verdict on the report itself. Some commentators say Winograd's authors rowed back from the harsh criticism of the government contained in their interim report last year. Many fault the final report for having "no bottom line". But others praise it as "brave", and call on Mr Olmert to resign.

The Winograd findings were reported widely across the Arab world. In Lebanon, media which support Hezbollah celebrate what they describe as a major victory for the movement.

HEADLINE IN ISRAEL'S YEDIOT AHARONOT

The acquittal and the failure - The Winograd Committee report has determined that Israel has not won the Lebanon war and mainly blamed the army for war failures.

BEN KASPIT IN ISRAEL'S MA'ARIV

Winograd's good tidings are good for Olmert, bad for the State of Israel. Olmert returned from the battlefield and it seems that he will survive this report in the short term. At least in this matter he will enter history as one who did not triumph in the war but who triumphed in the committee.

EDITORIAL ON ISRAEL'S YNET NEWS WEBSITE

Olmert can breathe easy.

NAHUM BARNEA IN ISRAEL'S YEDIOT AHARONOT

In the first [interim] report they slaughtered Olmert and not only him. In the second report they give him a pinch on the bottom and add a friendly pinch on the cheek. Both reports read as though they were written by two different committees... It is possible to understand why the Prime Minister's bureau was content yesterday.

YOSSI VERTER IN ISRAEL'S HA'ARETZ

The bottom line of the Winograd report is that it has no bottom line. To be more precise, there are many bottom lines and each one is invited to choose his line.

EDITORIAL IN ISRAEL'S JERUSALEM POST

After the [Winograd] interim report, this newspaper concluded that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert needed to take personal responsibility for these failures and resign. We see nothing in the final report - including its partial exoneration of some of the most egregious public charges - that would change this conclusion, and much that would reinforce it.

ARI SHAVIT IN ISRAEL'S HA'ARETZ

Despite all the attempts to castrate it [the Winograd Committee] and turn it barren, it presented a precise picture of the war and its significance. Subject to the constraints imposed on it, it placed on the table a brave diagnosis of the Israeli sickness.

LEBANESE HEZBOLLAH'S AL-MANAR TV

Today Israel has officially recognised its humiliation inflicted by the leader of the resistance Hassan Nasrallah, since the first days of the July aggression when he gave the good news that victory is surely coming.

LEBANON'S AL-AKHBAR

The Winograd commission issued yesterday an unprecedented official recognition of Israel's defeat in its aggression on Lebanon.

LEBANON'S AL-SAFIR

Winograd report: Israel admits its total defeat in Lebanon.

LEBANON'S NBN TV

[The Winograd report] will have aftershocks because it has acknowledged the failure of the war on Lebanon in achieving any of its objectives and has strongly criticised the political and military leadership in Israel.

LEBANON'S DAILY STAR

Winograd lets Olmert off the hook... [it] said that Israel's 2006 war with Lebanon was a missed opportunity and a grave failure for the Jewish state, but it spared Prime Minister Ehud Olmert a widely expected roasting over his performance.

<I><A href="http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk">BBC Monitoring</A> selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad.</I>