Olmert’s backers must also go

To assume that a team that made such disastrous and obvious blunders last summer is able to fix them is to be naïve

Many of us who take interest in Israel have been shocked by what has transpired there over the last week. It is inconceivable how a prime minister can remain in office after he has been found guilty of severely failing at his job, going to war without a proper plan and being personally responsible for numerous faulty decisions
 
However, while speaking this week to a close friend who fought in the Second Lebanon War the problem became even clearer to me.

My friend related that from the battlefield it was clear that there was no real plan or leadership to the war. Soldiers were being sent into battle without an apparent aim. That young fathers and husbands were killed because of the incompetence, lack of experience, haste, poor judgment and arrogance of Ehud Olmert and Amir Peretz is unforgivable.

From the Winograd report it is plain that Olmert was less careful about sending young lives into battle then most people would be about investing their savings
 
The conclusions of the report are inescapable: Olmert and his government were playing willy-nilly with the lives of young Israelis. There can be no more damming criticism of a Prime Minister then this. A leader who is proven to be willing to sacrifice the lives of young soldiers without proper thought and care must be removed
 
If Olmert had a shred of decency he would resign and out of embarrassment not show his face in public ever again. Obviously he has no such decency. While Olmert’s lack of care for human life is his main problem there is also another issue and that is Israel’s image abroad.

President Bush and even UK’s Prime Minster Tony Blair used a tremendous amount of political capital backing the ill-fated and badly calculated policies of Olmert and Peretz.

Clowns running the show

At the start of the war they made grandiose statements but in reality had no idea what they were either talking about or doing. That pair are reminiscent of the American-based 20th century comedy duo Laurel and Hardy. Except that it was Laurel and Hardy’s job to make fools out of themselves while Olmert and Peretz are supposed to be statesmen and national leaders.

With such clowns running the show in Israel, which foreign government will ever take Israel seriously again? Which international leader will again put their political future in potential jeopardy for Israel? The question is a rhetorical one.

In addition, because of the shenanigans of Olmert and Peretz Israel is now considerably weakened in the eyes of its enemies. As one political commentator here in the USA pointed out, this fact not only puts Israel in jeopardy but it is dangerous for the rest of the world as well.

Countries like Iran and Syria no longer feel as threatened by Israeli military might and are thus less encumbered to continue their support of international terrorism.

Last summer Olmert spoke about creating a new order in the Middle East. In fact he has achieved a new order in the world—because of him the world’s most rogue regimes now feel more empowered then ever before to continue their menacing behavior towards the West.

To assume that a team that made such disastrous and obvious blunders last summer is able to fix them is to be naïve. For now however, with few exceptions, most of Olmert’s coalition has this view. It seems, at least to this observer, that as a result of this the entire government must go.