This is long overdue.
Israeli PM Ehud Olmert finally pulled the trigger and announced that he will that he will not run in the upcoming Kadima primary and will resign from office from office as soon as Kadima's primary is over, to allow the new party leader to attempt to form a coalition.
In typical form, Olmert lashed out as his political opponents, accusing them of 'mudslinging'. Of course his multiple indictments for corruption,the ridiculous concessions to the Palestinians and the enormous increase in Hamas and Hezbollah's threat to Israel on his watch would have nothing to do with it.
Don't think this is a sacrifice for the common good on the part of Olmert. Like everything else about him, it is self-serving and calculating to an extraordinary degree.
Here's how it works: the Kadima primary is September 17th. After a new party leader is chosen, they have the right to attempt to form a coalition government,even if it means bribing the Arab Knesset members,labor or the far Left parties.They then have to submit it by October 26th to Shimon Peres,the President.
If the new Kadima leader is unable to make enough sleazy deals to keep the status quo in power by then, Peres can grant them another 90 days to form a government; after the 90 days are through, if there's still no coalition formed, a general election is scheduled, thus potentially allowing Olmert to remain in power until March 2009.
As long as he still occupies the post of Prime Minister,even as a lame duck,he is capable of binding Israel to agreements detrimental to its national security, and even influencing the corruption cases against him.
True to type,Olmert cares nothing for the fact that Israel is facing an existential threat from Iran with an increasingly narrow window to do anything about it. He could care less about the military buildup by Hamas on Israel's south by Hamas,which Yuval Dishkin and every member of Israel's Security establishment are warning must be dealt with before it gets out of control.
Any leader who really cared about the people of Israel would have recognized that his mandate was over a long time ago,and resigned to let new leadership take over and deal with these matters..but not Olmert.
He's a special type of animal,a foul parasite that will keep inflicting his host until the last possible moment. And he's being aided and abetted by the current apparatchniks in Kadima and Labor who are conniving to keep their positions and stifle the voice of the Israeli people, no matter what damage it ultimately does to the country.
When the Israelis finally do have elections ( and I can't imagine why they haven't risen up and driven these cockroaches from office yet)I'll be extremely disappointed if they fail to take their revenge at the ballot box.
Selah.
not to be completely off topic, but.......the US congress has a single digit job approval rating. my money says that 90% of those cockroaches will be returned to deecee.
ReplyDeletenow just why would you suppose the israelis think any differently about their cockroaches?
we will wait and see together.
Hi Louie,
ReplyDeleteHow's everything?
Simple answer to your question..in the US if we re-elect a foul ball to Congress,it's not a life or death matter..in Israel,it's something they weigh every day.
Olmert and his allies in the Knesset are seen as playing politics with people's lives and stopping elections from happening(in Israel, elections don't really occur at regular four year intervals like here).
Plus the average Israeli is a lot more interested in politics than the average American,and the politicians aren't so insulated there as they are here.It is, in the end, still a very small country where people know one another.
It's absolutely common, still, for an Israeli to see his MK at the local market and go up to them to give them a piece of his or her mind.
Don't get me wrong..personally I'd love to see more of our congressmen held to account. But the situation is just entirely different.
All Best,
ff
with all due respect, i simply can not agree with you ff.
ReplyDeletebased on the info you provide in your reply.
how can you give me that information and come to the conclusion that you do.
olmert and the knesset are gambling with life & death issues.
MK are seen in markets.
israelis are more concerned about politics than others.
something is amiss in your arguement. if not we would not be having this discussion and the israelis would not be facing the situation that they are.
how did it come to this?
maybe the MK are not coming into the market for fear they will have a cantaloupe shoved into their nether regions.
maybe the israelis don't let their opinions be known.
if everything in your reply is true, how did it come to this? the MK should have been berated daily by those they know if they are not isolated. they should have been given more than a piece of mind.
i listen to iba news nightly, and i know you will say that is not an accurate form of information, but as a gentile in the bible belt J/P and iba are all i can get for information.
the tourism minister has been forced to step down because he was indicted.
the taxation minister, i know that is probably not the correct title and didn't hear it right, but he and his son have been indicted for a money laundering scheme with organized crime.
olmert is the tip of the iceberg. the israelis are suffering from a leadership crisis.
the supreme court of israel was given a public approval rating comparable to the current occupant of the white house.
if the israelis pay more attention to politics than we do THEN HOW DID IT COME TO THIS???????
as always, we will watch and see.
and do it together.
You're certainly correct Louie..this has been an incredibly corrupt government.
ReplyDeletePart of the problem is the nature of Parliamentary democracy,multiple parties and coalition politics..which we've discussed before.
If an election were held today, Olmert,Kadima and probably a large chunk of the Labor Party would be out on their keisters..so these politicians have a vested interest in avoiding elections as long as possible.
I agree,it's a major weakness in their system...so as you said, we'll wait and see what happens.