Livni slams Olmert
Foreign minister "When the public gives its mandate it wants to know that it can trust its chosen leaders, and not that those in power are weighing their own future rather than the future of the citizens of Israel," Livni told the third annual Jerusalem Conference for Quality of Government.Israeli society isn't a society without norms and values, but it's led by leaders who have no norms and values, and Olmert has the least norms and values of any of them. Livni's appeal is falling on deaf ears because Olmert has no conscience and because he wants to take the party down with him in Samsonian fashion to avoid giving Livni a chance at leadership. I am willing to live with that because I see Livni as Olmert without the corruption and therefore on a substantive level, I regard her as more dangerous than he is. I suspect that many on Israel's right agree with me.
"When a politician crosses the red lines it must be clear that there is a price to be paid," she said, adding that "this is also the responsibility of the public and I do not accept the statement that 'everyone does it.'"
Livni continued: "It is unacceptable to me that anything that isn't criminal is alright… A society that considers anything that isn't criminal tolerable is a society without norms and values. I can't believe that Israeli society is an immoral society. The norms are a tool in the hands of the public, whose chosen leaders are supposed to pay a price or be rewarded."
Democracy in Israel, Livni said is "in dire straits. Democracy is supposed to stand on three stable, separate legs - Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. The powers are separate and require the public's trust. Without the public's trust the institutions lose the basis upon which Israeli democracy is founded."
I have explained before that Ehud Barak's motivations for trying to force a Kadima primary are also political. Barak also does not want Livni to become Prime Minister.
Livni is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Olmert will not allow the party to set a primary date quickly enough to satisfy Barak and Barak won't drop his demand because he realizes that he is not strong enough to win an election now and he is not likely to be strong enough in 2010 either if Livni is Prime Minister between now and then. On the other hand, Barak believes he can be strong enough in 2012. But that means conceding the Prime Minister's office to Netanyahu between now and then.
What you're seeing now is Livni's frustration boiling over. We're likely to see more of that between now and next Wednesday's vote on the bill to disperse the Knesset. My current guess is that it will disperse next Wednesday with an agreed election date.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:24 PM
2 Comments:
Carl - just a question what do you think of the politics behind the hudna with Hamas and Israel's reported agreement to give up Mount Dov to Hezbollah? A calm before the storm or the real thing? You know where I stand but I'm curious as how you think these developments are going to play out.
NormanF,
I don't expect the Tahadiyya (which is even less than a hudna) to last. The only question is which will happen first: Will one of the terror groups attack us or will the Israeli government finally have to go in and deal with the weapons tunnels?
As to Mount Dov, I do fear the government will give it away, which is one reason why next Wednesday's vote on dispersing the Knesset is so important. That's why you saw the Golan referendum law advancing yesterday - so that they can get it in place before the Knesset disperses and hopefully prevent Olmert from giving away anything else.
But this is all politics. Barak knows an operation in Gaza is necessary but doesn't want anyone else getting credit for it. Olmert is afraid to go into Gaza and fail again - so afraid that he's entered into this ridiculous 'truce.' The IDF is preparing for war. This is the calm before the storm. The question is how long it will be before the storm takes place.
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