Thousands of Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Saturday to demand that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert order an independent state inquiry into his government's handling of the war in Lebanon, according to Reuters. It was the largest public show of dissatisfaction with Olmert since he took office in May. Polls show his popularity has tumbled amid public frustration with Israel's failure to crush Hizbollah guerrillas. The 34-day campaign launched after Hizbollah captured two soldiers in a cross-border raid ended with an Aug. 14 truce that has largely held. Olmert has pledged only a government probe into the war instead of an independent inquiry. Police said a crowd of upwards of 30,000 thronged Rabin Square in central Tel Aviv, Israel's main venue for demonstrations, according to Reuters. Many of those in a crowd that spilled into nearby streets were reservists who served during the war. Speakers complained that the army had been ill-equipped and civilians ill prepared to face Hizbollah rockets that rained on northern Israel during the fighting. Protesters sent up cries of: "Olmert go home".
