For anyone who is expecting this diary to link American leadership to Israel and blamed them for all the problems in the Middle East, you might be disappointed. I was reminded again how bad a leader Ehud Olmert, the outgoing Israeli prime minister, has turned out to be. AFP reports
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was left shame-faced after President George W. Bush ordered her to abstain in a key UN vote on the Gaza war, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Monday.
"She was left shamed. A resolution that she prepared and arranged, and in the end she did not vote in favour," Olmert said in a speech in the southern town of Ashkelon.
The UN Security Council passed a resolution last Thursday calling for an immediate ceasefire in the three-week-old conflict in the Gaza Strip and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza where hundreds have been killed.
Fourteen of the council's 15 members voted in favour of the resolution, which was later rejected by both Israel and Hamas.
The United States, Israel's main ally, had initially been expected to vote in line with the other 14 but Rice later became the sole abstention.
"In the night between Thursday and Friday, when the secretary of state wanted to lead the vote on a ceasefire at the Security Council, we did not want her to vote in favour," Olmert said.
This arrogance rivals that of President Bush and does nothing but harm Israel. Steve Clemens writes
Olmert also seemed to convey that he had George W. Bush on a little puppet string -- that he could pull the United States President out of a meeting and compel Bush to veto the course that Secretary Rice was going and had been empowered to do by that same President. True or not, Olmert crossed a real line in his statement.
This kind of arrogance from Israel's leadership only erodes enthusiasm for Israel's posture in the Middle East.
Perhaps Israel's so-called defensive efforts that have killed nearly 1,000 people -- and many innocents among them -- and this high-ended, stridently unfriendly treatment of Condoleezza Rice will help to decrease the emotional enthusiasm for Israel's Gaza raids.
So, getting back to the title of this diary, why is Olmert like Bush?
(1) Arrogance (see the above paragraphs)
(2) Low approval ratings
http://www.haaretz.com/...
According to a poll conducted by the Dahaf Institute for the Knesset Channel, 77 percent of Israelis believe that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is not doing a good job, while only 23 percent gave him a high grade for his performance as prime minister.
About 60 percent of respondents rated Olmert's personal integrity as "not good" and only 30 percent as "good."
Regarding Olmert's decision-making, about 75 percent of respondents said it was "not good" and only 24 percent rated it as "good."
(3) Corruption + (4) Was able to stay in power by forming political coalitions with religious political group.
Just as Bush was able to garner support in 2004 from the evangelical voting bloc, Olmert did the same thing:
Support for the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, was collapsing...in the wake of sensational new corruption allegations which threaten to splinter his governing coalition.
The Labour Party leader, Ehud Barak, the key governing partner, was set to issue Mr Olmert with an ultimatum that he either resign or agree to fresh elections.
"Either Olmert suspends himself or the Labour Party must leave the Government," said a senior Labour MP, Danny Yatom.
Other coalition partners such as the ultra-orthodox party Shas are also reported to be ready to abandon the Government as members of Mr Olmert's Kadima Party, including the Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, and the Transport Minister, Shaul Mofaz, position themselves to take over.
The uncertainty surrounding Mr Olmert's future is certain to sideline efforts to sign a peace accord with the Palestinians, and threatens to neuter peace negotiations with Syria.
Mr Olmert is accused of soliciting up to $520,000 in illegal campaign contributions from a New York businessman, Moshe Talansky, when mayor of Jerusalem.
5. Lame duck It's important to note that there are differing and dissenting opinions inside the Israeli government:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Israeli reservists were sent into action for the first time in the current Gaza conflict as the fighting continued yesterday and Palestinian deaths reportedly rose to 900.
Israeli forces were, however, holding off from a surge into the heart of Gaza City, the so-called Phase 3 in the military operations, and there were fewer air strikes, 25, compared with previous days, when they had averaged 60 to 70.
Meanwhile there were reports of a split within the Israeli cabinet with claims that Tzipi Livni, the Foreign Minister, and Ehud Barak, the Defence Minister, were pressing for an early end to the offensive while Ehud Olmert, Prime Minister, wanted it to continue.
Mr Olmert, who resigned as head of the Kadima party in September following corruption allegations, is said to be planning to present his case to a cabinet forum where he enjoys support.
Ms Livni, the Kadima candidate in the elections on 10 February, has indicated publicly that she is strongly opposed to any peace agreement involving Hamas. She is said to favour, instead, a unilateral halt to the offensive, in effect challenging Hamas to halt the rocket fire or face a renewed onslaught on Gaza.
Mr Barak, the Labour Party's candidate in the election, on the other hand, is said to prefer a ceasefire indirectly agreed with Hamas through mediation by Egyptians and is said to have been privately critical that not enough was being done at peace talks in Cairo.