Israel Matzav

Olmert cannot remain in the prime minister's office

I never thought I would see this in HaAretz.

Columnist Ari Shavit is calling for Ehud Olmert to resign. And he's right about that anyway. And he even indirectly takes some of the blame for getting Olmert elected in the first place. A flying pigs moment. But he's wrong about a lot of other things:

Ehud Olmert may decide to accept the French proposal for a cease-fire and unconditional surrender to Hezbollah. That is his privilege. Olmert is a prime minister whom journalists invented, journalists protected, and whose rule journalists preserved. Now the journalists are saying run away. That's legitimate. Unwise, but legitimate.

However, one thing should be clear: If Olmert runs away now from the war he initiated, he will not be able to remain prime minister for even one more day. Chutzpah has its limits. You cannot lead an entire nation to war promising victory, produce humiliating defeat and remain in power. You cannot bury 120 Israelis in cemeteries, keep a million Israelis in shelters for a month, wear down deterrent power, bring the next war very close, and then say - oops, I made a mistake. That was not the intention. Pass me a cigar, please.

There is no mistake Ehud Olmert did not make this past month. He went to war hastily, without properly gauging the outcome. He blindly followed the military without asking the necessary questions. He mistakenly gambled on air operations, was strangely late with the ground operation, and failed to implement the army's original plan, much more daring and sophisticated than that which was implemented. And after arrogantly and hastily bursting into war, Olmert managed it hesitantly, unfocused and limp. He neglected the home front and abandoned the residents of the north. He also failed shamefully on the diplomatic front.

I disagree vehemently with the assertion that Olmert "blindly followed the military without asking the necessary questions." If anything, the opposite is true. Olmert vetoed the generals' plans that could have destroyed Hezbullah in a matter of days. He did not allow air strikes on south Beirut until Nasrallah had the chance to escape. He dithered and delayed (and continues to delay) a ground operation, giving the terrorists a chance to regroup. The result was that Olmert "mistakenly gambled on air operations, was strangely late with the ground operation, and failed to implement the army's original plan, much more daring and sophisticated than that which was implemented." But that the original plan wasn't implemented wasn't due to Olmert blindly following the army, but due to Olmert's own shortcomings.

I cannot criticize him for going to war hastily - there was little choice. But the IDF has been planning for this war for several years, and Olmert would not listen to them. Like the arrogant Israeli who has to reinvent the wheel rather than using something that has worked before, Olmert decided that he knew better. But he didn't. And now he should pay the price.

Olmert is not a leader. He is a cheap opportunistic backroom politician who cannot be trusted to manage the condominium owners' fund (va'ad bayit), let alone with the fate of the nation. I have said it before and I will say it again: Olmert must go.

Read the whole thing.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:00 AM