(9 of 11)
Meanwhile, much of the military establishment was furious over the extent to which it had been blamed for the debacle in Beirut. Eitan had originally planned to resign early last week, but he changed his mind when he realized Sharon was stalling. So Eitan stayed on, hoping to persuade the Cabinet to appoint the candidate of his choice, Major General Avigdor Ben-Gal, as the new Chief of Staff. Officers of the military intelligence branch, Aman, were particularly bitter, believing that they were being asked to pay the price of the Mossad's mistakes in dealing with the Phalangists. As one ranking Aman officer put it, "No matter what happens, we take the blame." Few military men were moved by Sharon's attempt to come to the defense of the generals who had been criticized in the report by publicly praising them. They noted that he has not spoken with either Eitan or Saguy for months. Said a general who commanded a division in Lebanon last year: "It doesn't mean much that he is now playing the game of the army's great protector."
The showdown came at the Thursday night Cabinet meeting. Outside, a demonstration by Sharon supporters, shouting "Arik Sharon, king of Israel," was followed by the Peace Now demonstration, and then by the fatal hand-grenade explosion. Inside, the Cabinet members were engaged in furious debate. At one point, when Sharon expressed his opposition to the report, Attorney General Yitzhak Zamir snapped: "You're still not a legal expert." Another time, when he failed to gain the support he needed for a delaying tactic, Sharon shouted: "What do you want to do, chop off my head? O.K., chop it off! Do you think the [army] officers are hostages?" Interrupted Begin: "Why do you talk like that?" Another minister chimed in: "Don't talk that way. Lower your voice."
When the vote on whether to accept the commission's report was finally taken, Sharon did not have the support of a single colleague. Begin was one of the 16 who voted for adoption of the massacre report. Trying to be kind, Begin told Sharon: "You still have some time to think. Today we only took a general decision, and it's good to think things over."
Later the Prime Minister embraced Sharon, saying, "You are young. You still have much to do." The Defense Minister responded, "We will remain friends." Sharon subsequently reinforced the impression that he would go into retirement by saying that there was much work to be done on his farm in central Israel.