From Haaretz:

The security cabinet approved Wednesday a broader ground offensive by the Israel Defense Forces in Lebanon, authorizing troops to push to the Litani River some 30 kilometers from the Israel-Lebanon border.The IDF’s goal is to significantly reduce Hezbollah’s short-range rocket launching capabilities. Most Katyusha rocket launches take place from within this area. The cabinet authorized Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz to widen the offensive and to determine its timing. According to the decision, however, the two are not obliged to implement the decision. Nine of the 12 ministers in the cabinet voted in favor of the move, while the other three abstained. There were no votes against the decision.Labor Party Ministers Shimon Peres and Ophir Pines-Paz and Shas’s Industry and Trade Minister Eli Yishai abstained from voting. Peres and Pines-Paz said all diplomatic channels must be exhausted before the war is expanded. Yishai said the ground offensive must not be expanded until air strikes have run their course.

But even up until the time of the meeting, Olmert was hesitant:

Olmert was hesitant prior to the meeting on whether to approve the proposed expansion of the IDF ground operation in south Lebanon. Olmert was concerned that the plan presented by the defense establishment would result in hundreds of casualties, and therefore, wanted to subject it to a careful cost-benefit analysis.

There is also some incredibly bad politics going on with the replacement of the general over the northern command in Israel.  This is the stuff of “soap operas” and tabloid headlines.  This type of thing should not be happening during a time of war.  Northern Command Chief Udi Adam has been replaced (sort of) by Moshe Kaplinsky.  Read about it here and here.  But has he really replaced him?  Who is reporting to whom?  Did Adam really go before the Security Council and beg for a ground operation, only to be denied by the council?  Or is Adam really not the leader for this operation to begin with?

Okay, so here it is: Ehud Olmert hesitates, Udi Adam is replaced, but only sort of.  The Security Council gets to overrule military plans, and the war is run by committee.  I know that here in the U.S. things are much more simple due to the fact that we have a commander in chief.  But one thing is for sure.  After this war is all over, Israel needs seriously to revisit its form of government as it pertains to the conduct of war.  While a Parliamentary form of government may have served Israel in the past regarding politics, it just isn’t well-suited to rapid warfare and evolving conditions on the battlefield.

There is no place for politics in warfare.  Politics can only cost lives.  It can never help.  If you want to do politics, then stop the war and play politics.