Israeli PM Olmert’s coalition might look a lot less solid at the end of the day. OneJerusalem reports that the 11 seat Yisrael Beiteinu faction is likely to leave the government, leaving the Kadima led coalition with 67 seats.
At the start of Monday’s Knesset plenum session, Israel Beiteinu showed its displeasure with the government by walking out on a no-confidence motion regarding Israel’s negotiations with the Palestinians on core issues.Sources close to Lieberman said the party head had received the impression that Olmert concluded that Labor and Israel Beiteinu could no longer exist in the same coalition and that he chose to keep Labor at Lieberman’s expense.
They cited Olmert’s statements to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Monday about the need to negotiate the core issues of the conflict and his statements Sunday to Kadima ministers about outposts remaining being a disgrace.
While One Jerusalem speculates that this would increase pressure on the religious Sephardi party, Shas, to leave and bring down the government, the Jerusalem Post looks at the effect Yisrael Beiteinu’s departure will have on Labor.
Olmert’s associates said he had not intended to push out Lieberman but privately they admitted that if Israel Beiteinu left, it would give the diplomatic process a boost and make it more likely that Defense Minister Ehud Barak would keep Labor in the coalition.Sources close to Barak said Israel Beiteinu’s departure would indeed increase pressure for Labor to stay, but that Lieberman would not impact Barak’s decision about whether to keep his promise to remove Labor from the coalition upon the Winograd Report’s publication on January 30.
Channel 1’s Ayala Hason reported Monday that if the Winograd report ended up being extremely critical of Olmert, Barak would give Kadima six weeks to elect a new leader. If Kadima would refuse, Barak would bring down the government and force an election.
Even if Shas stays, the result of the Winograd commission could leave Kadima severely weakened.
On his way out of Israel, President Bush urged Yisrael Beiteinu and Shas to stay in support of PM Olmert. This probably didn’t help as it cast those critical of PM Olmert and Kadima as being against peace.
Israelis aren’t against peace. But they aren’t in favor of dangerous – not just painful – concessions. They’ve seen an increase in terrorism and radicalism since the Oslo process began. Now they see a an unpopular Prime Minister trying to boost his own fortunes by adopting policies that appeal to the American president but not to his electorate. President Bush’s appeal to Yisrael Beiteinu and Shas was a slap in the face of the Israeli people.
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
