The Pressure Mounts

The pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Olmert mounts has his support fritters away and more leading politicians call for his ouster. The latest to demand his resignation is the leader of his own political party:

Avigdor Itzhaki, chairman of the Kadima Party’s representatives in Parliament and chairman of the governing coalition, told Army Radio that he was “trying to persuade Kadima members to ask the prime minister to resign.” He added that if Mr. Olmert did not resign, he would.

In response, aides of Mr. Olmert called Mr. Itzhaki a disloyal “subversive” who has “no place in this government,” according to Army Radio.

Mr. Itzhaki is widely believed to be working on behalf of those who support replacing Mr. Olmert with Tzipi Livni, the current foreign minister and deputy prime minister.

The sad thing is that Livni is no better than Olmert, and her performance during the war was inadequate as well.

Peretz is close to stepping down as well. If he steps down, Livni might follow in short order if Olmert doesn't first resign.

Carl in Jerusalem thinks that Olmert might be gone before the end of the day, given the way that other members of his cabinet are threatening to leave the government if Olmert doesn't resign.

The disasterous results from the Hizbullah war have meant that Israel's security is diminished as a result. Syria is learning the lessons Hizbullah won - building bunkers to protect their missiles from Israeli airstrikes for example.

Complicating all this is the revelations that an Arab-Israeli member of the Knesset was passing secrets on to Israel's enemies during the Hizbullah war.

Former Balad chairman Azmi Bishara is suspected of spying for Hizbullah during the Second Lebanon War and providing the group with targets and classified military information, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) announced on Wednesday.

The investigation, carried out by the Shin Bet and the Israel Police over the past few years, revealed a long list of grievous espionage-related crimes and activity against the state of Israel.

According to the suspicions against Bishara, the former MK transferred to Hizbullah information, predictions, assessments and recommendations about the political echelon, the IDF and the Israeli public during the Second Lebanon War.

Not only have Israelis been failed by their inept leadership, but there is a treasonous legislators in the midst of the Knesset who assisted Israel's enemies in obtaining information about Israel's defenses and policies.

And just so that everyone remembers who the real enemies are - Hamas leaders restate their desire to kill Americans. He's throwing his support in with the jihadis around the world and has no problem targeting Americans or Israelis anywhere in the world.

At least there are some in Israel who are taking the Winograd report to heart and demanding changes in the IDF funding, training, and oversight.

One journalist chides the rest about how they covered the war and didn't ask the tough questions of the Israeli government about the preparedness and performance as the war was going on. Here's the thing - the Israeli leaders failed in their mission to defend Israel against Hizbullah. That failure can be traced back to indecisiveness and failures to grasp the readiness of the Israeli military. Some of those problems should have been apparent well before the Hizbullah war, but others became apparent as the strategy for dealing with Hizbullah in Lebanon waivered between full assaults on Hizbullah positions and an indecisive and half hearted attempt that exposed Israeli troops to dug in Hizbullah positions.

The goal of destroying Hizbullah could not be realized based on the fact that Israel was unprepared to do so politically or face high casualties to do so. So, it fell to a diplomatic solution that has only emboldened Hizbullah as it prepares for another round with Israel.

UPDATE:
Livni is making her move. She's moving to replace Olmert as the leader of Kadima. Too bad she wasn't this bold or aggressive during the Hizbullah war.

UPDATE:
Well, Livni wasn't quite that bold. She's stopped short of withdrawing from the government though she continues to call for Olmert to step down.

It's funny though, that Hizbullah's Nasrallah agrees with most Israelis that Olmert has got to go. Of course, there's quite a few people who would like to see Nasrallah depart from the scene as well. Nasrallah's minions started a disasterous war in Lebanon that caused billions of dollars in damage to the Lebanese economy and infrastructure. Nasrallah is unrepentant and continues to press the advantage against Israel.