Barak: IDF will not be investigated

Netanyahu decries attempts to break Gaza blockade and his government.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN, JPOST.COM STAFF
311_Barak in Knesset (photo credit: Courtesy)
311_Barak in Knesset
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Israel will defend the interests of its soldiers, Defense Minister Ehud Barak declared Monday  in the Knesset.
He added that "Israel will not let its soldiers be investigated whether in English [by an international probe] or in Hebrew [by an Israeli probe]."
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Barak admitted on Monday  that the opposition's no confidence motion was “not the result” that the government had sought.
Echoing comments by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu earlier in the afternoon, Barak told the Knesset plenum that the government was “coping, and will continue to cope, in order to make sure that [Israel] stays secure.”
Now is not the time for no-confidence measures or new parliamentary elections, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said in a speech in front of members of his Likud party on Monday morning.
"We know that in the past, the opposition supported the government not just for a day but for months. During [Operation] Cast Lead, we put the election on hold. After the Second Lebanon War, it was two months after the end of the war before we issued a no-confidence motion, and even then it wasn’t about the war," said Netanyahu.  He continued, "I ask for restraint and responsibility to help Israel head off the attack."
Likud MK Michael Elkin added to the prime minister's comments, saying, "It's absurd that we will be responding to no-confidence motions from Kadima and Balad at the same time."
The Kadima party, led by former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, was set to introduce a no-confidence motion in the Knesset Monday accusing the government of "seeking to evade responsibility for the raid on the flotilla".  According to Kadima, ministers have failed to take responsibility for the raid and instead been content to let the soldiers take the blame.
The Arab Balad party was also considering proposing its own independent no-confidence motion based on the government response to the Gaza flotilla.
The prime minister also declaimed the recent international attempts to circumvent the IDF blockade of Gaza.
"Israel is under attack. The goal of the attack is to break the blockade on Hamas, that was justifiably imposed in order to prevent Hamas from obtaining weapons that would be used against Israel," stated Netanyahu. "The blockade has been going on for years."