Part of the grieving process is the need to blame somebody, occasionally even oneself, for the death of a dear one. That seems to be behind the actions of a group of families who lost sons in the second Lebanon war and are now campaigning for the resignation of Prime Minster Olmert. They argue that, as the other two men mainly responsible for the conduct of the war (Defense Minister Peretz and Chief of Staff Halutz) have accepted their share of the blame and resigned, the fact that Olmert is still Prime Minister is something of a scandal.
Similarly, to have sustained injury is often also a cause for apportioning blame. Some of the soldiers wounded in the second Lebanon war, who are grieving lost comrades, have also turned against the Prime Minister and demand his resignation.
The two groups now act in tandem. Their actions have given rise to questions whether they are morally - in the case of the soldiers, even legally - entitled to get involved in what amounts to partisan politics. Have sources close to the right-wing parliamentary opposition put them up to it? The leader of that opposition Binyamin Netanyahu has been very quite and “statesman like” of late. Perhaps the grieving parents and the injured soldiers are doing his work – spontaneously or by arrangement.
Though individuals within the coalition parties wouldn’t have been similarly involved, some seem to be taking advantage of the situation. The most prominent among them is Foreign Minister Tsippi Livni, a member of the Prime Minister’s Kadima party. Yesterday she met with a few of them. Though she insists that there was no political motive behind it, it’s very hard to believe her, especially as she’s suspected of having fixed the meeting only days before the publication of the Winograd Report. She’s, after all, one of the most likely candidates to replace Olmert if he goes. Yesterday’s encounter may have been calculated to strengthen her bid.
Another coalition minister in the current government, this time a member of the Labor Party, Binyamin Ben Eliezer, also met with representatives of the two groups yesterday. Though he himself isn’t a contender for Olmert’s job, his close associate, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, decidedly is. It may, therefore, not be too far-fetched to speculate that Ben Eliezer acted on behalf of his friend and master.
The actions of the bereaved and the maimed and the roles of leading politicians in, perhaps, cynically using their despair must be viewed in the context of the tension in the country in anticipation of the publication of the final Winograd Report on the conduct of the second Lebanon war. Everybody assumes that, directly and indirectly, a very large finger will be pointing at the Prime Minister. Therefore, potential successors are lining up and using every means at their disposal.
Even before we know what’s in the Winograd Report, it’s not unreasonable to argue that Olmert deserves to go. But it’s by no means certain that anybody who would succeed him would be better for Israel. That’s the contention in today’s Ha’aretz by the respected columnist Akiva Eldar. The suspicion that potential successors may be using the grief and the pain of others to further their own political ambitions should be sufficient evidence that they’re unfit to lead the country in these difficult times, when the real issues include Gaza, Iran and, of course, peace negotiations.
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