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Abstract
Major-General [Doron Almog] received this award for his work heading the Israeli investigation committee of the Hezbollah kidnapping of two reserve unit soldiers which ignited the Israeli/ Lebanon conflict last July, 2006. The Lebanese Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah infiltrated the Israeli border in capturing two Israeli soldiers, in what Prime Minister Olmert called an "act of war." Three other Israeli solders were killed in the raid prompting retaliative Israeli attacks on the Beirut airport and bridges, roads, power stations and military positions across the hillsides of southern Lebanon. Almog's report was highly critical of senior officials including the former military chief of staff, who resigned in the aftermath of the report. The words "fail" and "failure" are used more than 150 times in the preliminary report by a government-appointed committee headed by Major-General Almog. The criticisms add up to "serious failure in exercising judgment, responsibility and prudence" on the part of the prime minister, according to the report, which stops short of calling for resignations.