Olmert Wins Backing of His Political Party
JERUSALEM _ Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert fought off a political mutiny Wednesday, winning the support of most members of his party in a closed-door meeting even as his foreign minister joined the growing list of people demanding that he step down over last summer’s war with Hezbollah.
In a televised news conference, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni called on Olmert to resign, saying the public “has lost faith in the government” in the wake of a critical report that accused the prime minister of rushing into the 34-day war without a well-thought-out plan or realistic goals.
“In my meeting with the prime minister, I expressed my opinion that resignation is the right thing,” Livni said shortly after she met with Olmert privately.
Olmert, however, vowed to stay on, and at a special meeting of his centrist Kadima Party, most members voted to back him, according to Shimon Peres, a party member and deputy prime minister.
“The party was united, and this has been a big day for the party and for Olmert,” Peres told Israeli reporters after the meeting.
“The coalition is stable. The party is stable,” said Miri Eisin, Olmert’s spokeswoman.
The decision to back Olmert capped a day in which Livni and Kadima Chairman Avigdor Itzhaki tried to rally mutineers to dump Olmert over the report. The report blamed Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and former Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz for the outcome of the Hezbollah war, which most Israelis viewed as a defeat.
In the end, though, it was Itzhaki who resigned. Livni’s future as a member of Olmert’s government remained uncertain.
Olmert, too, faces difficult days and months ahead. Monday’s report dealt with only the first five days of last summer’s war. The commission that issued the report, named for its chairman, retired judge Eliyahu Winograd, is expected to release later this year its examination of the war’s last four weeks and it’s likely to be as damning of Olmert and his advisers.
Even if Olmert survives the current crisis, the final report will be his ultimate undoing, many believe.
“He doesn’t know who is going to strike first,” said Uri Dromi, director of international outreach at the Israeli Democracy Institute think tank. “Now he is really like a hunted animal.”
Livni’s high-profile defection came on the eve of a major Tel Aviv protest that will be a bellwether of how much support Olmert has in Israel. With polls showing two-thirds of Israelis supporting Olmert’s removal, tens of thousands of demonstrators are expected to turn out.
Still, Dromi said, Olmert benefits from the fact that neither Livni nor other potential successors have the experience and support needed to topple him. No political party in the coalition government currently has the strength or stomach to bring it down.
Before Livni urged Olmert to resign, the prime minister appeared to deliver a veiled warning to his foreign minister during a morning Cabinet meeting.
“To those who are eager to take advantage of this report to reap certain political advantages, I suggest: Slow down,” Olmert said while Livni sat by his side at a conference table.
After Livni made her public remarks, Israeli news media carried comments from unnamed Olmert aides blasting her for leading an unsuccessful coup and suggesting that Olmert should fire her. Eisin deflected the question, but indicated that it was possible Livni would be replaced.
Olmert and the Cabinet agreed to appoint a special task force to implement the Winograd Committee’s recommendations.
In its report, the commission bluntly accused Olmert and his top military leaders of bungling the war by not thinking through their actions. Olmert immediately accepted responsibility in a televised response and told Israelis that he was the best person to enact the proposed changes.
Meanwhile, Olmert’s summer war rival, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, took advantage of the crisis from afar to join with those urging Olmert to step down.
In comments carried live on the Hezbollah television station in Beirut, which Israel tried and failed to knock off the air during the war, Nasrallah praised the Israeli committee for its harsh criticism.
“The first important outcome of this commission is that it has finally and officially decided the issue of victory and defeat,” said Nasrallah, whom Israel tried and failed to kill. “This commission spoke about a very big defeat.”
Hezbollah sparked last summer’s war by capturing two Israeli soldiers during an early morning July 12 cross-border raid from Lebanon. Israel responded almost immediately with massive airstrikes that over the course of the war killed an estimated 1,000 Lebanese, most of them civilians. For its part, Hezbollah fired thousands of rockets into northern Israel and engaged Israeli soldiers in surprisingly tough battles.
More than 40 Israeli civilians and 120 soldiers were killed before the United Nations brokered a cease-fire that ended without securing the release of the two Israeli soldiers.
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(McClatchy Newspapers special correspondent Cliff Churgin contributed to this report from Jerusalem.)
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(c) 2007, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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