RAMALLAH, West Bank — The resigning Israeli Knesset member of ruling party Kadima yesterday harshly slammed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert saying he “is dangerous to Israel. He is the worst prime minister in the history of the State of Israel.”
Itzchaky, who submitted his letter of resignation to Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik yesterday for the failure of Olmert to resign over the Winograd report’s findings, told the daily Yediot Ahronot that “the prime minister’s greatest problem is his cynicism, euphoria and charlatanry.”
A week ago, Itzchaky announced that he plans to resign following the final Winograd Commission report into the failures of July 2006 War on Lebanon.
Following the release of the interim Winograd report, Itzchaky attempted to replace Olmert with another candidate from Kadima since he is unfit for and undeserving of his post, a move which proved unsuccessful.
He added that most of the members of Kadima say in private talks that Olmert cannot stay in office, but prefer to keep silent because “Olmert has bought them with appointments and authority.”
Following the release of the report, Olmert enjoyed the backing of an overwhelming majority of Kadima members of the Knesset, who stressed that the report made clear that there were no political motivations behind the decision to launch a large-scale offensive after a cease-fire agreement had already been set.
Itzchaky added that he had held meetings with Labor Chairman and Defense Minister Ehud Barak and opposition leader and Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu over the past few weeks in a bid to bring Olmert down.
The outgoing Kadima lawmaker is considered an associate of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and has said in the past that she was the best candidate to replace Olmert. He claimed, however, that Livni is morally and ethically stained “as she is serving today in the prime minister’s government.”
Meanwhile, the leader of Hezbollah, whose guerrillas fought a war with Israel in 2006 had some rare praise for the Jewish state’s inquiry into the 34-day conflict, saying it did justice to his group and proved Israel had planned the war ahead of time.
Hassan Nasrallah was referring in an interview aired late on Wednesday to the Winograd report. In a wide-ranging joint interview with his Christian political ally, Michel Aoun, Nasrallah tried to deflect criticism from domestic political opponents who blamed the guerrillas for starting the war when they staged a cross-border raid, killing three Israeli soldiers and capturing two others.
“The Winograd Commission does not intend to do justice to us. Its aim was the interest of Israel and to correct the mistakes,” Nasrallah told the private Lebanese OTV station in a 31⁄2-hour interview. “But what did justice to us is the part that said the war was preplanned. It had been prepared for.”
Nasrallah said the Israelis had planned a sudden, pre-emptive strike to wipe out Hezbollah within three days in late September and in October 2006 and was thankful it happened earlier.
“Thank God it happened in July,” he said. Nasrallah gave no evidence to back up his claim. Israel has said it was forced into the war by Hezbollah’s actions.
