Israeli News: A Daily Analysis

Major Events in Israel and the Middle East
A Daily Analysis
By Marc Schulman

The Israeli Political World in Turmoil Today

Wednesday , May 2, 2007

The Israeli political world is in turmoil. There is no other word to describe the mess. Minister of Foreign Relations Tzipi Livni, Prime Minister Olmert's most likely successor, called on him to resign today. The cries grow, but Olmert and Minister of Defense Peretz seem to be digging in their heels. Olmert keeps saying that the report states that the people who were responsible should fix the problems. Of course that is clearly not what the report stated. It clearly stated that there is no way that the condition can be fixed without the people responsible being replaced.

The Israeli public has made their opinion known. 74% of the people believe that someone else needs to fix the problem. When asked who should replace Olmert, 22% say Benjamin Netanyahu, 16% say Shimon Peres, 12% say Tzipi Livni, 10% say Ami Ayalon, 7% say Avigdor Lieberman, and 6% say Ehud Barak. It is interesting that even though opposition leader MK Netanyahu is leading, members of the current coalition would get more support than the opposition.

The full story of former MK Azmi Bishara was released today. It turns out that Bishara was working with Hizbollah both before and during the war with Lebanon last summer. He was helping them to the level of suggesting places that they should aim the missiles. While Bishara was mostly working with the Hezbollah for idealogical reasons, he also allegedly received money from the organization. He told his interrogators that he was leaving the country and then coming back in a few days. It is clear that the Shin Bet preferred that he leave than try to bring him to trial.