By Bradley Burston

Now it's official. Israel is a country without a prime minister.

This had been no more than an educated suspicion until Monday night, when Ehud Olmert effectively made the announcement. Not in so many words, of course. Instead, in a long-awaited television address to the nation, Olmert took Israel's last remaining expectations of him and kicking them in the teeth, by ducking a full-out probe into his handling of the war.

If nature abhors a vacuum, imagine how it feels at this point about Israel's senior leadership.

The titular head of state, our model for probity, is looking down the barrel of rape charges. The army chief of staff, our model for dedication and sacrifice, took a break for a bit of financial planning just as the nation's leaders were deciding whether the military was ready, plans, supplies, training and all, to go to war.

The justice minister might have helped Olmert this week, had he not resigned over suspicions that he forced a French kiss on an unwilling young woman soldier.

And then there is Olmert himself, the man who acted as prime minister from January 4, when Ariel Sharon suffered a devastating stroke, until July 12, when Olmert suffered a debilitating, evidently permanent lapse of responsibility.

After nearly six decades of existence, Israel has found itself a practical experiment in Anarcho-Zionism. Unlike its neighbor the Palestinian Authority, which is a government lacking an independent state (and a number of officials jailed by Israel), Israel has become an independent state lacking a government.

Israel is now run not by its leaders, but despite them. The IDF, by default, has once again become an Army of the People. It is now run by the estimable junior officers and the experienced, motivated soldiers at the company, battalion, and, at most, brigade levels. It is supplied by donations from pharmacies, supermarkets, and private individuals, who also set up Israel's refugee camps and shelters for people displaced by war in the north.

The only country in the world whose capital is now universally unrecognized as such, Israel has also become the only country which no longer recognizes its own government. The upside: It is no longer lonely at the top, because there is no one left.

So it is only right and proper that Israelis have begun to think about a replacement. We have exhumed Ehud Barak and Benjamin Netanyahu, but polls show them to be non-starters. In an effort to think outside the box, we have mooted Avishai Braverman and a host of others, many of them impressive, none of them proven.

At this point in Olmert's career, about the only thing that could save Olmert's head, is that of Hassan Nasrallah.

Maybe that's our answer. If assassinating or abducting the Hezbollah leader is still on the agenda, as Israeli officials maintain, why not put Nasrallah to useful purpose?

Look at the issues. Consider his record. Here is a man who is both strong and wise on security issues. He saw to it that his troops were well-prepared, well-trained, well-supplied, and and well-protected.

Nasrallah would be a new sort of Israeli leader. One who gets things done.

Here is a man who addresses social welfare needs head-on. He doesn't wait to help home-owners rebuild residences destroyed by aerial attacks. He hands out literal lump-sums, immediately, in cash.

Here is a man who delivers medical care to the needy, affordable housing to the homeless, food and even clothing to society's disadvantaged.

Here is a man who cares deeply about, and puts major emphasis on, education and youth [even if the message is one of incitement, hatred, and anti-Semitism].

Moreover, as he proved this week in admitting to having miscalculated the Israeli response in Lebanon, Nasrallah, as opposed to, say, Olmert, is a leader who, when he's made an error in judgment, can openly admit to it.

For more than 20 years, Israeli prime ministers have come to office pledging to be leaders for all the people, only to exacerbate existing divides and create new ones.

Why not tap the one leader who has managed to unite the Israeli people as has no prime minister in memory?

It goes beyond the war itself. Only Nasrallah succeeded in putting an end to what has been the central rift in Israeli society for the past four decades: He has effectively stilled the arguments for and against the concept of land-for-peace.

Nobody's about to give up anything now. Certainly not in the one place everyone cares about, the West Bank.

The right and the left are closer than they have been at any time since June, 1967. The right, having already lost Gaza, has seen its Greater Israel dream shattered. The left, having been rocketed by Hamas, the Jihad, and Hezbollah, has seen its bedrock ideology - End War by Ending Occupation - reduced to rubble.

Finally, here is a leader who carries no moral baggage. The world expects nothing of him morally, so there is the merest of outcry when he attacks civilian targets.

Nasrallah has a proven record.

What do our present leaders have to show for theirs?

source (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/756175.html)

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Looks like there is alot of corruption in the Israeli government and internal problems.

Do you think that Olmert will be out of office soon?

Yes, the likelihood is that Olmert will be out of office soon. But as the author points out, the problem is finding a replacement. And the question that he doesn't mention is: Will there be new elections or not, i.e., will Olmert simply be replaced by a new PM from the parliamentary coaltion in power; or will there be new elections and a whole new government?

In the latter case, Likud may return to power and Netanyahu will be PM. In the former case, well, it's hard to see how they will come up with anything but another weak leader.

It all depends on the development of public opinion in Israel. If the Israelis stay angry and get angrier, the governing Kadima coalition with Labor will come apart and new elections will have to be called. Labor would rather be out of the government than sink with Kadima tied around its neck.

I think there will be a period of weakness in which Olmert tries to convince people that there is no alternative to him and they should weather the storm together. But as more revelations about the army and poor decision making come out, it will be increasingly hard for him to stay.

Another factor is: how will the cease fire monitors turn out? If it turns out that they effectively keep Hezbollah back from the border or at least Hezbollah is discouraged from the kind of small attacks on Israel they have been making over the last few years AND if the Lebanese public turns AGAINST Hezbollah and blames them for starting the war, then Olmert will have an argument: "See? In the end, my decisions got us what we wanted. I was smarter than you thought!"

That's unlikely--but still, it MIGHT turn out that way. If it does, Olmert could stay and weather the storm. It all depends on how events turn out and how he plays his cards--i.e., how good a POLITICIAN he is, as opposed to how good a LEADER he is.

There's Jeff's analysis of the Israeli political scene. :-D

LoL it was about time Omlete was thrown out for the stupid mistakes he made. This is just another prove that Israel had lost the war it started!

I think Nasrallah will be a good choce for the Israelis. In a poll conducted before the war, most Israelis said that they trust and believe in what Nsrallah says. That is, he is a honst and straight forward guy. Unlike the other PMs they had to handle!

I hope this happens, next thing we know the zionists will go back to Europe and Arabs and Jews will live peacefully again under Hassan Nasrallah's rule :)

Good analysis Jeff but I disagree with you that Hezbollah is making attacks against Israel for the past 6 years, they didn't make any attack at all since the withdrawel of Isarel in year 2000. And no way Lebanese public will turn against Hezbollah because Hezbollah is part of the Lebanese public and the majority of Lebansese support Hezbollah. The war was started by israel and it was planned long time ago. Because Hezbollah demands clear from the begining to exchange prisoners only which is fair.

Israel has been making attacks against the Palestinians and the Lebanese for the past 60 years!

I hope this happens, next thing we know the zionists will go back to Europe and Arabs and Jews will live peacefully again under Hassan Nasrallah's rule :)

That will make everyone happy, after all the zionists will be more than welcomed by the europeians.

Yeah IceTea, I am surely eventually they will invade some African country and then gift it to the Zionist in order to get rid of them ;)

Israel has been making attacks against the Palestinians and the Lebanese for the past 60 years!

it's called self defense.

LoL, so Israel invades a land and kills its people, and whoever is left starts to fight back, its called self defense?

I think ur mind need some self treatment ;)

LoL, so Israel invades a land and kills its people, and whoever is left starts to fight back, its called self defense?

I think ur mind need some self treatment ;)

israel was responding to her land being attacked. they were fighting back against hezbullahs crossing into ISRAELI territory and killing her soldiers.

Hmmmmm.

Yeah and how old r u mr. dot? I hope old enough to read a basic fact of history, there is no land for israel to defend. Israel is the invader of Arab land and sooner or later it must leave. Simple as that :)

israel was responding to her land being attacked. they were fighting back against hezbullahs crossing into ISRAELI territory and killing her soldiers.

Hmmmmm.



So called ISRAEL, United States and, perhaps UK as well seems to being endowed with reckless leaderships. The days of JF Kennedy, Yitzak (Ishaq) Rabeen and Edward Heath are gone. All that the world is left with are mere 'actor.'



:afro:
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This and other threads here are extraordinarily racist. Somehow now, the Middle East must be exclusively Arab and Muslim (with Muslim descendants of African slaves also allowed, and of course plenty of Indians to do the actual work here.)? This concept is rather new in all of history. It is a fascist concept.

The Christians and Jews in the ME have already either been killed, forcibly converted or fled. They used to number in the millions in the ME, even in the 20th Century.

Fascism and Islam have been pals since Hitler. Looks like not much has changed since then.

When someone says something like, "Israel is the invader of Arab land and sooner or later it must leave." That is a very racist statement. Pathetically racist, actually.

"Arab" is a race. So when anyone speaks of "Arab land", they are referring to a land that belongs to a particular race of people. Utterly racist.

And then that gets narrowed down to Arab Muslims. Because many Arabs are Christians and Jews, but they cannot live in the ME. So they flee to free countries before they are killed.

My statements are about Islam and the ME in general, and are not specific to Oman. Omani's are much more tolerant. But even in Oman, how many Jews live in Oman? How many Jewish temples in Oman? I think the answer is "none".

The Sultan has granted some land for a few Christian churches in Oman, and Christians are not persecuted here. For that we Christians are grateful.

Christians, however, are forbidden to prosletyze to Muslims, and even our weekly church bulletins must be kept under parish wraps. Otherwise, jail awaits. Not exactly a free society, but better than some other Muslim countries.

If a Christian arrives at the airport in Riyadh with a Bible, it will get shredded on the spot. If he or she has more than three Bibles, he or she will immediately be imprisoned. If a Catholic nun arrives there, her crucifix necklace will be taken from her and destroyed.

liberty, Jewish people shouldn't have a state, they used to live among nations and they will be happy to countinue this way.

On ther other hand the Zionist state of Israel is a terrorist state and you can see how the ME is on fire since it's installation in this region. It's time for Jews to think about their future without the Zionist state of Israel.

Ice, just how exactly is Israel a terrorist state? rightful and lawful self-defense hardly counts as terrorism. Let's try to keep our words and concepts straight.

It is a terrorist state because it has invaded Arabs land and killed its people. And since then, it has been killing and terrorising more and more countries around.

Simple right? :)

I guess Ahmednejad Is Right that so called New State created 50+years ago should vanish and let the owners take Over....

Ice, just how exactly is Israel a terrorist state? rightful and lawful self-defense hardly counts as terrorism. Let's try to keep our words and concepts straight.


Read: Namra wan - Link:

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3119885,00.html




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I guess Ahmednejad Is Right that so called New State created 50+years ago should vanish and let the owners take Over....

These "owners" you speak of have proven to be incapable of running their own state. It would be another Iraq where muslims killed fellow muslims as they struggle with each other to be the ones in control. and all in the name of Islam.

Ice, just how exactly is Israel a terrorist state? rightful and lawful self-defense hardly counts as terrorism. Let's try to keep our words and concepts straight.

Just a simple questions liberty ... How did the Country Israel exist? On what grounds? Was it peacefully created ? Did the Jews come and shook hands with the Palestinians and said lets live together and wipe a country called Palestine and re name it to a new state called Israel ?

Imagine OBL and his followers conquer USA and rule it by force and the American people struggle and fight daily to kick them out and for 60 years they fight for their freedom would you call the Americans terrorist ..

No DP, I think Israel was formed by the United Nations.

You know, the same body you insist should have handled the Iraq issue, the ones the Americans should have listened to.

How do you pick and choose regarding decisions made by the UN ?

Ok, that speech or article or whatever that was, wasn't so much as a tirade against the state as Israel but a ridiculously obvious dig at Nasrallah... but whatever, as long as people out there are at least admitting Israel's mistakes without tryin to cover it up or euphemise them.

And second of all: I'm glad that Palestinians are fighting for their land on the grounds that they are Arabs and they were born to it therefore deserve to live on it. I'm sure America would just love for them to forget that so they can do to the Middle East what the English did to the real America a couple of centuries ago, and in many other areas of the world, too, in fact.

No DP, I think Israel was formed by the United Nations.

You know, the same body you insist should have handled the Iraq issue, the ones the Americans should have listened to.

How do you pick and choose regarding decisions made by the UN ?

THE UNITED NATIONS ENTERS THE SCENE
The United Nations was born on October 24, 1945, at the close of the World War Two. At the first meeting of the General Assembly, there were only 51 members. The UN had its first test when the Soviet Union occupied Iran in 1946, and the world body proved it could solve international disputes. A year later, the UN would face its next big test.
Britain was exhausted after the war and had to rebuild its cities and economy. Its duties in Palestine were more than it cared to handle because conflicts were breaking out between Arabs and Jews. So Britain announced in February 1947 that it would hand the Palestine mandate back to the UN. But the fighting increased in Palestine and underground Jewish forces began inflicting heavy losses on the British. British patience was already wearing out when they discovered Jews from Europe on an illegal immigrant ship, the Exodus-1947. The British troops assaulted the refugees and returned them to camps in Germany. The world was shocked.
So the United Nations, less than two years old at the time, inherited the Palestine headache. The Security Council was designed for problems like the one in Palestine.
In May 1947, the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) was formed. Arab leaders interviewed by the committee warned that, if Palestine were divided, there would be bloodshed in Jewish communities in Palestine and nearby countries. The committee believed that leaving the Jewish minority in Arab hands would result in disaster.
Meanwhile, the Jews began preparing for the war they expected to fight with the Arabs. Under the British mandate, civilians who had weapons could be executed, but the Jews formed an underground military and began making weapons.
UNSCOP proposed that the UN partition Palestine into Arab and Jewish states, and place Jerusalem under international control. The UN General Assembly passed this as a resolution on November 29, 1947, with most of the dissenting votes being cast by Muslim or Asian nations. This was called the UN Partition Resolution. It was the first major Middle East action taken by the UN and has been a cause of strife since that day.

A UN mediator finally worked out an acceptable truce, which both sides signed on February 24, 1949. With that as a precedent, the UN arranged a similar agreement between Lebanon and Israel, which they signed on March 23. Syria resisted signing a truce with Israel, but agreed to withdraw if the Israeli territory it held became a neutral zone with UN observers. These agreements left Israel with 21% more land than it had been given by the UN Partition Resolution...From the beginning, the Arabs had opposed the UN's policy of a neutral Jerusalem under international control...

This so alarmed the other Arab nations that they told the PCC they were ready to accept international control of the city. Six months later, the PCC proposed separating Jerusalem into Arab and Jewish zones, and providing UN protection for the holy sites. The General Assembly, however, repeated its support for international control of Jerusalem. In defiant response, Israel's Knesset unanimously voted to move from Tel Aviv to New Jerusalem, and in January 1950, the Israeli government moved there. Three weeks later, the Knesset announced that Jerusalem had always been the capital of Israel. Does it answer your question Wudjab !!!!It goes to show that Israel never followed or listend to UN and they will never listen till today and keep on breaking all the resolutions made by UN ..

wudjab, don't let me quote again what Rabbi Wiess said.