Succession of scandals leaves Olmert fighting to stay in power

[DoYouEverWonder]

26 August 2006

The Tel Aviv daily newspaper Maariv ran a cartoon this week showing a man sitting at his kitchen table with a cup of coffee and a newspaper. The headlines read "sexual harassment", "murder", "road accidents" and "violence". The man sighs: "It's so good to get back to normal."

The cartoonist might well have added "financial shenanigans" and " political cronyism", such is the list of brewing controversies afflicting the Israeli government as it emerges bruised from the damaging Lebanon war.

An opinion poll in the mass-circulation Yediot Ahronot yesterday registered a dramatic collapse of confidence in Ehud Olmert, the Prime Minister, whose authority - along with that of his Defence Minister, Amir Peretz, and the army brass - appears to have been severely weakened by an unpopular conflict.

Asked how they rated Mr Olmert's performance during the war, 74 per cent said it had not been good. Mr Peretz fared worse, with 79 per cent, while Lt-Gen Dan Halutz, the Chief of Staff, rated 63 per cent. If elections were held now, the Prime Minister's Kadima Party would slump to 17 seats, down 12 since the March general election.

Mr Peretz's Labour Party (down eight) would drop to 11, the historic ruling party's lowest-ever representation. The right-wing Likud would top the poll with 20 seats. Binyamin Netanyahu, its leader, is the new favourite for prime minister, scoring 45 per cent to Mr Olmert's 24 in a straight contest.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1221904.ece

You know things must be bad when you start missing Netanyahu.

[MrPrax]

1. Say what?

Netanyahu is another deranged idiot racist...last thing Israel needs.

So Olmert's failure is not getting rid of Hezbullah...hard to tell which is crazier, Olmert or Israeli public opinion?

[IndianaGreen]

2. Like America, a frightened Israel may choose a fascist as its leader

Never underestimate the capacity of a population to make bad choices!

It reminds me of that scene in the film V for Vendetta when V appears on the government controlled TV and tells the audience that if they needed to know who was responsible for tyranny, they needed to look no further than a mirror.