2006 Israeli reserve soldiers' protest

[2] The protest grew in momentum over several days, and as of August 25 it consisted of several hundred demonstrators,[3] including the influential Movement for Quality Government.

[9] On September 9, tens of thousands participated in a demonstration calling for a state commission, which was held in Rabin Square, Tel Aviv.

[10] Much of the following efforts to establish mechanisms to investigate the war, were undertaken while the protests were active, and their responses to these attempts on the part of Olmert's government, played an important role in shaping public opinion and arguably, the eventual widening mandate of the commission which was formed.

The governmental and military inspection probes were to be chaired by former director of Mossad, Nahum Admoni, and former chief of staff, Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, respectively.

Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz has already appointed a military inspection probe headed by Shahak, but it ceased operating after a day due to public criticisms.

[16] On September 11, Olmert's appointment of retired judge Eliyahu Winograd to replace Admoni (who was to remain a member, but later resigned) as chair of a governmental commission, was approved by the Attorney General Menachem Mazuz.

Winograd is a well-respected former judge who headed various earlier commissions, most recently in March 2005 in an IDF Probe to review the authority of the Military Censor.

Former National Religious Party chair Knesset member Ephraim Eitam said that "this an ugly move by the government to escape its responsibility."

Haaretz reports that even Minister of Defense and Labour chair Amir Peretz might be considering opposing Olmert and calling for the establishment of a state commission.

[23] The next day, the Movement for Quality Government submitted a petition to the Supreme Court, seeking an injunction to disqualify the Winograd Commission.

The Israeli Chief of Staff, Dan Halutz, himself involved in a scandal over the sale of his investment portfolio three hours after the war began, admitted failures.

[26] Earlier in the week, IDF Spokesperson clarified that a comment attributed to Israeli Technological and Logistics Directorate chief, Brigadier-General Avi Mizrahi, where he reportedly said that "if our fighters deep in Lebanese territory are left without food or water, I believe they can break into local Lebanese stores to solve that problem", was not made by him.

Following the Winograd Commission's preliminary report on April 30, 2007, on May 4, tens of thousands of protesters gathered to call on Olmert to resign.

The chairman of Baltam, Roee Ron, stated that: To our surprise, after the Second Lebanon War and the Winograd Report, the government and the IDF are advancing a law against reserve duty.