Ehud Olmert - Moshe Kaplinsky

      Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday asked the Israel Defense Forces deputy chief of staff, Moshe Kaplinsky, to stay on in the army following the anticipated appointment of Major General Gabi Ashkenazi as chief of staff. Kaplinsky expressed muted criticism of Kaplinsky on Sunday night expressed muted criticism of Defense Minister Amir Peretz's decision to rush the appointment of a new chief, before the release of the Winograd Committee's interim report on its investigation of the Lebanon war. "The Winograd Committee was also set up to examine, among other things, my conduct during the war. "The committee is still busy with its work and no one knows what its conclusions will be regarding my role, authority and influence on the war or the way I conducted myself during the war," Kaplinsky said on Sunday. Olmert and Peretz meet Monday night to try and settle their dispute over Israel’s next chief of staff. The High Court of Justice instructed Olmert and Peretz on Monday to justify within four days their decision to appoint a new IDF chief prior to the Winograd Committee's interim report on the Lebanon war, because the incoming IDF chief could soon find himself being held partly responsible for the army's failures during the war.(13,30)