A Daily Analysis
By Marc Schulman

September 22, 2008- Terrorist Attack in Jerusalem- Livni Gets Nod From President To Form Government

Jerusalem suffered the third of the newest type of terrorist attacks. A driver from East Jerusalem took a car and plowed into a crowd of people, most of whom were soldiers on the way to the Kotel. Seventeen people were injured. What is most upsetting about this attack is that there was no way to stop it. No guns, no bombs, just an every day, regular item that is used as a weapon. In addition, if this case follows the previous attacks, the terrorist will not be a member of any groups. How do you stop this?

President Peres officially gave Tzpi Livni the responsibility for forming a government. She has four weeks to accomplish this task. Livni and Barak met. The sense is that Barak may be willing to reach an agreement with Livni. Livni has reached out to Barak and spoke of a true partnership and its worked. It would seem the major demand of the Labor party is to remove the controversial Friedman from the Ministry of Justice. That should not be very difficult to accomplish.

The more difficult challenge remains Shas. They are demanding that Ronnie Bar On be removed from the Finance Ministry, since he will not agree to change his position on the child subsidies. They also do not want Meir Shitreet who has served as Finance Minister for the same reason. They would like to see Shaul Mofaz to become the Finance Minister, someone with no experience in the world of finance- What a great idea!