Friends, Romans, countrymen

[bemildred]

"Dear citizens of Israel, good evening. Allow
me to say that these are not easy times for our
country. While terror makes no distinction
between innocent children and soldiers,
anti-Semitism in Europe is rearing its head.
Instead of denouncing the Arab murderers,
forces hostile to the Jewish people seek to drag
us into a trial at the International Court of
Justice in The Hague, and for one reason alone
- our desire to protect Jewish lives with a
security fence.

"These are not easy times for the economy,
with tens of thousands living in poverty and
municipal employees going without salaries
for months. It is difficult to ignore the wave of
corruption that has swept the country and has
even infiltrated the political system, as Limor
Livnat has pointed out. It's true that I said, and
regret having said, that the dogs bark and the
caravan rolls on. But countries are not built on
proverbs from the house of Shimon Peres.

"Dear citizens, Israel is facing some
momentous decisions. The road map still lies
ahead; the world is more against us than ever;
and President Assad is standing over us, trying
to rip the Golan out of our hands and pestering
us with his talk about wanting to make peace.
Mine and Israel's great friend, President Bush,
is demanding that we dismantle settlements
and deploy along the Green Line; and all this,
when there is no partner on the Palestinian
side, and none at home either - except for
Limor Livnat, the only person in the
government to criticize the attorney general's
office for being in such a hurry to indict Dudu
Appel, who has implicated me in a corruption
scandal.

---

"Citizens of Israel, a prime minister is not
obliged by law to resign unless he is found
guilty of a crime involving moral turpitude.
Nevertheless, I have made up my mind not to
wait until an indictment. As a disciplined
soldier who has never disobeyed a command in
his life, and as a leader for whom honesty has
always been the guiding light, I shall follow in
the footsteps of my mentor and teacher, David
Ben-Gurion, and like him, submit my
resignation to the president."

Haaretz