Is Israel Being Run By A Lunatic?

It's not a facetious question. Over the past two days, Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has exhibited some errratic, even bizarre behaviour that calls into question his mental stability.

The current Israeli war on Gaza was the brainchild of a triumverate made up of Olmert, his defense minister, Ehud Barak, and his foreign minister, Tzipi Livni. It's widely believed that Olmert opted for war, not on account of any feeble rocket barrage by Hamas, but in hope of rehabilitating his reputation left in tatters after Israel's failed incursion into Lebanon in 2006.

Despite the tense developments underway in Gaza, Olmert is reported (by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz) to be deliberately avoiding both Barak and Livni. These are Olmert's right and left hand in this war, the most senior members of his cabinet, and he's shunning them? That is, at the very least, erratic.

Then there was Olmert's bizarre stunt yesterday when he went out of his way to needlessly humiliate both George w. Bush and Condoleeza Rice. Olmert made Bush out to be his minion, his vassal, and depicted Rice as a conniving liar.

Olmert said Rice had hatched the Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire. He claimed that Bush wasn't even aware of it, that Condi was running a fast one behind her boss's back. Olmert's dramatic saga had him reaching Bush aides while Shrub was in the middle of some speech and making them pull the American president away so the Israeli leader could read the Riot Act to him. The disgraced, outgoing Israeli prime minister says he literally made Bush rush to contact Rice to rein her in, leading to America's abstention on the resolution.

It's quite possible Olmert's account is true. That, however, doesn't begin to explain why he went to such lengths to boastfully publicize it which could only heap embarrassment on his one true benefactor, the White House.

I suppose its possible that Olmert is so desperate for some positive resolution of his failed Gaza war that he wanted to be seen to have gone Berserker to shake Hamas but what a stunningly stupid hope that would be. Why would he trash his remaining, critical goodwill with the White House? Why would he call both Bush and Rice liars? Why would he demean Bush by portraying him as Israel's bitch?

Olmert's emotional stability is very much in question. The man might just have gone off the deep end.

Just Who Is Driving the Gaza Carnage, and Why?

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports that senior Defense Force commanders want an immediate ceasefire in Gaza:

During meetings of the Israel Defense Forces General Staff and of the heads of the state's other security branches, officials have said that Israel achieved several days ago all that it possibly could in Gaza.

They added that it is better to cease the offensive now, just several days before the inauguration of new U.S. President Barack Obama.

In contrast to similar discussions from last week, there is a significant decrease in support among top defense brass for an expansion of the operation.

Among the minority who support broadening the Gaza operation are members of GOC Southern Command, who feel it should take place on the condition it be limited to several months' time, and the Shin Bet security service, which thinks a continuation would further weaken Hamas and bring Israel more favorable truce conditions.

Word got out yesterday that Olmert is ducking his defense minister, Ehud Barak, and his foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, because he knows they too want a prompt ceasefire. Despite moving himself ever further out on a limb, Olmert didn't hesitate to kick George Bush and Condi Rice in the teeth yesterday.

So the answer seems to be that it's George Bush's worst friend ever, the outgoing prime minister Olmert, who alone is continuing this carnage regardless of what anyone, within his government and defense force or among the international community, says.

Olmert Ducking Barak and Livni

It used to be a triumverate - Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, his defense minister Ehud Barak and his foreign minister Tzipi Livni. It was the three of them who got together to launch the Israeli onslaught against the Palestinians of Gaza.

But the Trio of Darkness aren't seeing eye to eye any longer. According to the Israeli paper Haaretz, both Barak and Livni want a ceasefire in Gaza. Olmert knows it and so isn't talking to them. Apparently Olmert hasn't had his fill of carnage yet.

"Olmert is delaying a meeting with senior ministers in an effort to allow the military operations in Gaza to continue.

On Tuesday,Olmert did not meet with his "troika" - Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, both of whom support a cease-fire. On Wednesday, he will not convene the political-security cabinet to discuss whether the operations should go on. "

Barak wants a one week, "humanitarian" cease fire implemented in Gaza. Olmert isn't interested in hearing that argument.

Do As I Say, Not As I Did

I'm no historian when it comes to Israeli politics so bear with me. Remarks being attributed to outgoing Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert reminded me of an article I read not too long ago that claimed outgoing Israeli leaders tell truths they were never willing to embrace while they held power.

The main truth is the one coming from Olmert today, namely that Israel will never achieve peace with the Palestinians and Syria until it returns the lands it seized in 1967. From The Globe & Mail:

"In an interview published in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper yesterday, a week after his formal resignation, Mr. Olmert said that Israelis need to make a "supremely difficult" decision about whether or not they really want to have peace with their neighbours. If the answer is yes, he said, Israel will have to withdraw its soldiers and settlers from the Golan Heights and nearly all of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem."

What's radical about that? All Olmert is stating is what everybody knows. The profound part is that no Israeli leader has been willing to do what it takes.

Don't go spinning off into the usual uber-right diversions about Hamas or Hezbollah. Olmert, like his predecessors, didn't qualify his opinions with that nonsense because he knows that gets his country nowhere. That's Fox News drivel. Give Olmert and his Israeli predecessors a bit of credit. Maybe, just maybe, they understand their region's reality better than Sean Hannity and the rest of the rightwing rabble.