Posted on 05/07/2007 8:37:20 PM PDT by Iam1ru1-2
A new Ynet poll released Wednesday finds 65% percent of Israelis want Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to resign immediately, 25% believe he should wait for the full Winograd Commission report to come out this summer. Only 10% believe Olmert should stay on as the nation's leader.
A Haaretz poll finds 68% of Israelis want Olmert out now. "Israeli media predicted on Tuesday a 'political earthquake' that would force Olmert and Defence Minister Amir Peretz to resign following the damning report's release on Monday," reports Reuters.
"Olmert has a 'noose tightening' around his neck and is in a 'brotherhood being led to the gallows,' Israeli newspapers said, after the publication of a report into his conduct of the Lebanon war". Israel is facing one of the most severe leadership crises in its modern history and its enemies smell blood in the water.
Israeli President Moshe Katsav was recently indicted on rape charges and has been suspended from his post, pending trial. The IDF chief of staff recently resigned, charges of corruption in the government and even in the military are rampant.
Now a new report by an official commission investigating the government's performance in last summer's Lebanon War has accused Olmert of "severe failure".
The New York Times reports: "Average Israelis [are] despondent. Aviva Yisrael, 70, is the eighth generation of her family to live in what is now Israel. “I don’t see any leader now who can lead us," she said. "I don’t trust any of them, I’m sorry to say. Every 18 months they have elections, and then it’s no good again".
Excerpts from the Winograd Commission report: "The prime minister made up his mind [to go to war] hastily, despite the fact that no detailed military plan was submitted to him and without asking for one. He made his decision without systematic consultation with others, especially outside the IDF, despite not having experience in external-political and military affairs".
The report also sharply criticized Olmert for failing to "adapt his plans once it became clear that the assumptions and expectations of Israel's actions were not realistic and were not materializing. All of these, add up to a serious failure in exercising judgment, responsibility and prudence.".
The chairman of Olmert's own political coalition in the Knesset is reportedly planning to call on the Prime Minister to resign. The Jerusalem Post is reporting that more than half of Olmert's own Kadima party want him to resign.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, a leading member of Kadima, called on Wednesday for Olmert to step down. "I told him that resignation would be the right thing for him to do. It's not a personal matter between me and the prime minister. This issue is more important than both of us," she said.
Member of Knesset Yuval Steinitz (Likud) told Haaretz that "during the Lebanon war last summer the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee had to issue ultimatums to the army to move troops to defend the Golan Heights, which had been left totally unprotected".
MK Gideon Sa'ar (Likud) said action must be taken swiftly to protect the country from a leadership meltdown: "The Knesset has the important obligation to oversee the government, which refuses to take responsibility, and the prime minister, who has turned deflecting responsibility into an art form".
MK Ophir Pines-Paz (Labor) called for mass demonstrations to demand that Olmert and Peretz step down, Haaretz reported, while MK Zevulun Orlev, the chairman of the National Religious Party, said "the prime minister, because of whose failures lives of soldiers and civilians were lost, must stop barricading himself behind his position.".
Recent polls have shown Olmert with only single digit approval ratings. In part, this is because Olmert is not believed to be up to the task of keeping Israelis safe. Israel's enemies increasingly see him as weak, and are taking this as a sign from Allah that Israel's doom is near.
Olmert, for example, has refused to strike hard and fast against Islamic radicals in Gaza who keep firing rockets at Israeli towns and cities. Today, Islamic Jihad accused Olmert of being too scared to act in Gaza.
Hezbollah leaders, meanwhile, are taunting Israel. "[The report is an] admission of Israel's historic defeat in the face of the fighters of Hezbollah," said Nabil Qaouk, one of Hezbollah's leading militants. Now a top Palestinian official has given a sermon in a mosque in Sudan calling for the killing of all Americans and Jews. "You will be victorious on the face of this planet," said Sheik Ahmad Bahr of Hamas, the acting Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council. "You are the masters of the world on the face of this planet. Yes, [the Koran says that] 'you will be victorious,' but only 'if you are believers.' Allah willing, 'you will be victorious,' while America and Israel will be annihilated."
Kadima officials say the Prime Minister is looking for an "honorable way out". Among those waiting in the wings to replace Olmert are Livni, an increasingly popular leader within Kadima, and Likud opposition leader Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu.
A new poll finds Netanyahu ahead with 29% support, with Livni at 20%. Not surprisingly, perhaps, Livni opposes new elections. She wants Olmert to step down so that she can replace him without facing Bibi.
I want Lukid back personally. However; what’s interesting is that Prime Minister Olmert went through no less than 3 votes of no confidence today from his cabinet and won all three relatively easily.
We live in interesting times. Sounds like a job for Bibi. Prayers up for Israel.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.