(Communicated by the Cabinet Secretariat)
At the weekly Cabinet meeting today (Sunday), 25 January 2009:
1. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made the following remarks regarding Operation Cast Lead:
"A week has passed since we ceased firing in the Gaza Strip. Last Thursday (22 January 2009), I toured Sderot and I discovered a new place and a different atmosphere. I am full of hope that the atmosphere and the blessed quiet that characterized Sderot last Thursday, and which were apparent on the faces of young and old alike, will characterize the residents of the area adjacent to the Gaza Strip and the cities that were in rocket and missile range over the past month. Israel embarked on Operation Cast Lead not as a first option but as a last resort, after we tried all other ways and options to bring quiet to the communities in the south.
The terrorist organizations, led by Hamas, were perhaps mistaken in believing that the State of Israel would learn to live with this firing without responding and now, after the operation, these organizations are trying to close accounts with the State of Israel. The international legal arena is one of the main arenas in which they are trying to hurt Israel and strike at its soldiers and commanders. With the typical moral acrobatics, these organizations and their supporters are trying to turn the attacker into the attacked and vice-versa. The undeniable truth is that for eight years, hundreds of thousands of residents of the State of Israel, who live in the south, were the unceasing targets of brutal, deliberate and planned rocket fire that was intentionally designed to hit civilians, including children and their parents, not soldiers and military installations.
Now, as a result of unavoidable self-defense actions during which - to our regret - civilians were also hit, they are trying to turn what happened on its face and stick IDF soldiers and commanders - and not those who initiated the terrorism and turned it into a way of life against the residents of the State of Israel for many years - with the responsibility for this. The State of Israel did everything in order to avoid hitting civilians. I do not know of any military that is more moral, fair and sensitive to civilians' lives, than the IDF. Defense Minister Ehud Barak, IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt.-Gen. Gaby Ashkenazi and I, and others who closely monitored the fighting, can attest to many instances in which IDF soldiers and their commanders refrained from carrying out actions or diverted bombs lest innocents among the enemy be hit. This was also done when terrorists that threatened our soldiers were intentionally shooting at them from among civilian population concentrations and were using them as human shields against an Israeli response. This has been the policy of Hamas and the other terrorist organizations over the years - to fight to the last drop of Gaza civilians' blood and strike at them.
Last Thursday, I appointed Justice Minister Prof. Daniel Friedmann to chair an inter-ministerial team to coordinate the State of Israel's activity to provide a legal defense for those who took part in the military operation. The State of Israel will fully back those who acted on its behalf. Minister Friedmann - along with senior civil-service jurists, international and military law experts - will formulate answers to possible questions regarding IDF operations, which the self-righteous are liable to raise concerning the character of the Israeli fighting and its results. The soldiers and commanders who were sent on missions in Gaza must know that they are safe from various tribunals and that the State of Israel will assist them on this issue and defend them just as they bodily defended us during Operation Cast Lead.
2. In support of the IDF in the wake of Operation Cast Lead, the Cabinet noted the following:
"On behalf of the State of Israel and its residents, the Government expresses its appreciation and gratitude to the IDF for Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip. The Operation was an expression of the implementation of the right and duty of every country - according to the law of nations - to defend itself and its residents.
Israel began the operation after years of restraint and despite the thousands of Kassam missiles and mortar rounds that were fired from the Gaza Strip at population centers in Israel, with the intent to kill civilians - men, women and children - in a gross violation of international law and the ethical norms of cultured peoples. The firing indeed caused casualties and great damage to property, and struck at the economy and fabric of life in the communities in the area adjacent to the Gaza Strip.
The IDF operated at the behest of the Government in order to defeat this phenomenon by striking at Hamas and the other terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip, including their infrastructures, equipment and arsenals.
As a moral army without peer, the IDF took care to act in accordance with international law and did its utmost to prevent harming civilians who were not involved in the fighting, including their property, and to this end, inter alia, distributed very many flyers and also used the local media and the local telephone network in order to deliver timely general and detailed warnings to the civilian population. The IDF also acted to provide for the humanitarian needs of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip during the fighting.
Even though these principles were upheld, they did not always succeed in preventing tragic and regrettable results, which are an inseparable part of the scourge of war. Hamas cynically exploited the civilian population and used them as human shields for the unacceptable acts it perpetrated in their midst and close proximity. Thus, it bears the guilt and the responsibility for the aforesaid results.
As in any operation, the IDF will undertake operational investigations, and draw lessons and the necessary conclusions therefrom. The Government expresses its full confidence in this serious process and ascribes national importance to them.
The Government condemns and rejects the attempts to cast aspersions on the character of the IDF, its soldiers and commanders, and expresses its confidence in its norms and values.
In continuation of its 25 September 2005 decision, the Government emphasizes its obligation to support IDF soldiers and commanders and provide them with a full defense in the international arena regarding their activities in the framework of carrying out their duties as agents of the state.
The Government expresses its confidence in the ability of the IDF to realize its raison d'etre in defending the sovereignty of the State and ensuring the peace of its citizens."
3. Prime Minister Olmert discussed the National Insurance Institute's annual poverty report, which was released today:
"The report indicates both an absolute and a relative drop in poverty in Israel. Simply put, there are fewer poor in the State of Israel, both in relation to population increase and in the number of people living below the poverty line. After years in which we became accustomed to reports that would indicate an increase in poverty, we are seeing an opposite trend that is the unavoidable result of Government policy… The numbers still indicate that there are many poor in the State of Israel and there is much that still needs to be done. The direction has been defined and the trend is clear. The improvement is beginning to find expression and all those involved in the work must continue."
4. Defense Minister Ehud Barak briefed ministers on current security matters.
5. The Cabinet noted International Holocaust Commemoration Day and the day to mark the struggle against anti-Semitism. Minister Yitzhak Herzog, Yad Vashem Council Chairman Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau and the Chairman of Yad Vashem's Board of Directors, Avner Shalev, and Prof. Dina Porat briefed ministers on various related issues, including anti-Semitic incidents that occurred in the wake of Operation Cast Lead.
Prime Minister Olmert said:
"On January 27, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the world will mark International Holocaust Commemoration Day. It is no small thing that millions of people around the world will bow their heads out of special respect and remembrance for the victims of the awful Holocaust, the main target of which was the Jewish People. A few years ago, we still heard voices of denial and ignorance. Now, it seems to me that the entire world is united in a sense of responsibility to mark this day, the day on which the entire world honors the memory of the Holocaust and its victims, and especially learns the lessons of the Holocaust not just for the Jewish people but for the entire world."
6. Water Authority Director Prof. Uri Shani briefed ministers on the current water situation in Israel.
7. The Cabinet discussed the allocation of Project Masa budgetary surpluses.
8. The Cabinet discussed procedure for the transfer of power following elections, ministerial changes and the replacement of ministry directors-general.
9. The Cabinet discussed the provision of assistance to communities in the area adjacent to the Gaza Strip and decided - inter alia - to participate in daycare costs incurred between 1 January - 31 August 2009, for residents of the southern confrontation zone, as defined in the 2007 legislation.
In light of the continuing economic blows to communities in the area adjacent to the Gaza Strip, including Sderot, and given the prolonged suffering of the residents of these communities as a result of the security situation in the area, it has been decided that there are grounds for easing the economic burden incurred by parents in paying for daycare and thus allow them to continue normal working lives.
10. The Cabinet discussed a program to assist residents of the communities adjacent to the Gaza Strip, including Sderot and Ashkelon, in 2009. Given the continuation of hostile activity based in the Gaza Strip, the Cabinet approved the continuation of an assistance program for 2009 for communities adjacent to the Gaza Strip, including Sderot and Ashkelon. The 2009 plan is in addition to Government plans being carried out in keeping with other Government decisions. The Interior Ministry will allocate NIS 18 million, from its budget, as a grant for financing special expenses arising from the security situation, as follows: NIS 9 million to Sderot in 2009; NIS 6 million to the Sdot Negev, Shaar Hanegev, Eshkol and Ashkelon Coast regional councils in 2009; and NIS 3 million for Ashkelon in 2009.
11. The Cabinet established an inter-ministerial committee to formulate an action plan to encourage senior scientists and researchers with advanced degrees to immigrate to Israel and to encourage senior Israeli scientists and researchers with advanced degrees to return to Israel.
12. The Cabinet discussed fair representation for Arab, Druze and Circassian citizens in the civil service and decided to adopt the recommendations of an inter-ministerial committee that was recently established on the issue.
13. Regarding item #12 above, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert instructed the aforesaid committee to submit - within two weeks - a proposal for enforcing item #12 above.