G-d I hope so!  What a fucking disgrace..almost as incomptent as Clinton...but Mere Rhetoric is reporting that the coaltion government that has kept Kadima in power in Israel is about to whither away...why .....well because Olmert keeps trying to negotiate with the terrorists who are bent on destroying Israel.   He has gone so far as to not rule out the possibility of a divided Jerusalem!!!  Well...here is Omri's blog post.  He was on the One Jerusalem Bloggers Conference call...and he has links to various other sources including the one that the Shas Party is about to bail from the coalition as well.  This should have fucking happened at the release of the Winograd report  - the one about the Second Lebanon War last year.  But hey as long as Olmert is out and Netanayu is in as Prime Minister and I will be very happy!

One Jerusalem says they've got the goods on the story:

One Jerusalem has learned that one of the Olmert Government's key coalition partners (the Yisrael Beiteniu Party with 11 seats) will be pulling out of Olmert's government today: A direct result of Olmert launching negotiations over "core" issues (which includes the division of Jerusalem) with the Palestinians to satisfy the Bush Administration. During the past month, as One Jerusalem provided a platform in Israel for Israelis to voice their support for a united Jerusalem, pressure has been building on Right-wing members of Olmert's coalition to leave the government. Today, we are told that Avigdor Lieberman will lead his political party out of the government.

It's not impossible because Olmert and Lieberman are in negotiations today. But all of the leaks leading up to that talk were going the other way. Plus Lieberman's core issue is Iran even more than it is Jerusalem, and Olmert may ask him not to leave right when the Iranian crisis is threatening to reach a boiling point (which it perennially is - another instance in which Israel's enemies do more to keep the country united than Israelis themselves might like).

That said, it doesn't look like Lieberman can pull out of the government for at least the next week. First, it would be perceived as abandoning the government in the face of what's about to become a firestorm of international criticism. Second, you expect that the Palestinians are going to huff and puff and suspend talks for the near future - because heaven forbid that Israel would demand the right to protect itself while making territorial and security concessions.

UPDATE: One more reason why Lieberman won't bail after what just happened in Gaza: if he leaves, Shas probably has to go with him and he would effectively bring down the government in a time of escalating conflict. He's got to get out some time - and we honestly thought it would happen months ago - but today's not looking too good.

Posted by: Robert Woolwine at 02:28 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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