A Change At The Top?
It’s far from certain that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will survive the fallout from what appears to be a pretty disastrous cease-fire agreement. A sampling of reaction from critics:
MK Zvi Hendel (NU-NRP) said the opposition would resume efforts to topple the prime minister, ending a self-imposed hiatus on attacking the government during the war. He said inquiries would be made into Olmert’s handling of the war and that his mistakes would be exposed.
“Olmert is not fit to stay in power, he won’t last one day longer,” Hendel said. “The ministers should listen to [Hizbullah leader Hassan] Nasrallah’s satisfaction with the cease-fire to understand how bad it is for Israel.”
MK Silvan Shalom (Likud) said the cease-fire was one of the worst Israel had ever been offered. He said Israel would not achieve any of its goals, including returning its kidnapped soldiers and the disarming of Hizbullah, while issues like the return of Mount Dov (Shaba Farms) and the release of Lebanese terrorists from jail had been put on the agenda.
“If we would have known that this would be of the result of the war no one would have supported it,” Shalom told The Jerusalem Post. “Just last month Olmert called UNIFIL worthless pensioners and now they are being entrusted with protecting our country.”
Shalom said he was also not happy with the news about the IDF reaching the Litani River because the IDF should have entered deep into Lebanon a long time ago.
I can understand the humanitarian reasons for a cease-fire, but I have still yet to see any convincing reason that this is not a huge strategic and tactical defeat for Israel…
You could look at it as the dilemma of a man who really doesn’t lead a legitimate party, since it was originally founded on one man’s aspirations and personality. He doesn’t have any natural allies in his favor, so now watch Bibi take over shortly. And also watch what happens the next time some rockets are sent over into Israel – Bibi will launch the kind of offensive that will make the current one look like child’s play. The terrorists will reap what they sow.