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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert today, visited IDF Southern Command as the guest of GOC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Yoav Galant, GOC Gaza Brig.-Gen. Eyal Eisenberg and the various brigade commanders who took part in Operation Cast Lead. Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt.-Gen. Gaby Ashkenazi also participated.
Prime Minister Olmert asked to meet with the brigade commanders in order to hear from them about the fighting, the achievements that they believe were attained and their thoughts on the continued handling of the Gaza Strip. The brigade commanders described, in detail, the fighting on the various fronts, including the difficulties they encountered, the soldiers' performance and their general impressions of the Operation's accomplishments.
Prime Minister Olmert said: "We were modest in defining the objectives, in presenting our operations and in the atmosphere that we tried to create around the fighting. This modesty led to solidarity and the revival of a narrative that appeared to have been lost. A not exaggerated patriotism spread among the nation and gave all of us a sense of togetherness, of a determined nation that knew how to both define and achieve goals and proper boundaries."
Prime Minister Olmert referred to the dilemmas that beset the political leadership, the international diplomatic situation that was created as a result of the fighting, and the diplomatic achievements that led to an end to the fighting. Regarding the morality of the fighting in the Gaza Strip, the Prime Minister said: "The restraint that Israel showed before the fighting was exceptional in modern history. I asked the world leaders with whom I spoke who among them would have been prepared to suffer – for years – missiles on a medium-sized city in their country? Our restraint reached a point where others began to regard it as weakness. Those who build defensive systems among their civilian populations and place civilian populations where it can be hit in order to create international pressure – this is immoral. I can look each one of you in the eye and you could look each of your soldiers in the eye and know that nobody did anything morally regrettable. This is not to say that we do not feel remorse and pain over those who were hit even though they were not involved. The Government will stand fast in defending each and every one of you against claims of acting against moral standards. If such claims are to be made, they should be directed against us, that for seven years, the world opposed missile fire at Israel but did not lift a finger on the issue. It is we who must raise a generation of children who are in distress and tension as a result of the missile fire."
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