Olmert is weak; so are we

When the "old man" suffered his stroke, Olmert won the top spot thanks to Tzipi Livni's generosity. She decided to forego a competition in order to maintain government stability. Olmert won out without working hard. He entered the office through the back door because there was no worthy successor. Even within his party, Kadima, he was accepted by default.

There's good reason why Kadima won only 29 seats, as opposed to the 40 or more predicted by the polls during Sharon's era. "He will build himself up to the job," Sharon's people said at the time half-heartedly. Some of them have since bailed out of this quickly descending airplane.

Olmert and Sharon's empty chair (Photo: AFP)

On the diplomatic front, Olmert failed to bring peace with our Palestinian neighbors. His plan for realignment in Judea and Samaria shattered in the face of the waning dream of a disengagement that would lead to quiet in Gaza. Olmert, who is a crafty political animal, let go of the realignment agenda once he realized he had no public support for evacuating tens of thousands of settlers.

But to his chagrin, he has not been able to find another plan vis-à-vis the Hamas government. Even the broad Western support Olmert got from the White House and through London and Paris did not enable him to find the breakthrough en route to implementing the Road Map peace initiative. Meanwhile, by the way, he has been unable to secure the release of abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit through either force or brainpower.

Israel is also enjoying international support on the Iranian issue. Yet despite Olmert's efforts, this support has only been translated into weak UN sanctions thus far. Olmert has indeed been able to draw most of the Western world into undertaking an international move against the threatening Iranian nuclearization process. Yet it appears the threat has not bee removed.

To use the words of a senior Olmert administration official, Deputy Prime Minister Avigdor Lieberman, "ultimately we may end up facing the Iranian nuclear threat one-on-one, and time is running out." Olmert may prepare, but even his associates admit he cannot duplicate former Prime Minister Begin's bombing of Iraq's nuclear reactor.

On the northern front, we'll remember the disgraceful, hasty war in Lebanon and rejection of the outstretched Syrian hand. Olmert was quick to engage in a war that eroded Israel's deterrence power, pulverized our home front, and did not lead to the realization of even the initial objective of securing the release of abducted IDF solders Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser.

Following the war, which revived tensions with Syria, he was unwilling to listen to the messages coming from Assad's palace. Encouraged by President Bush, who views Damascus as the enemy of global democratization, he did not take advantage of the Syrian offer to launch peace negotiations. This is easy for Bush, as Washington is much farther away and safer than Jerusalem. For us at the home front threatened by Syrian missiles, it's much harder.

Hizbullah continues to rearm

The diplomatic successes Olmert boasts, such as Security Council Resolution 1701 on the ceasefire in Lebanon and the establishment of an axis of moderate countries that includes Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Gulf states, are still contingent on future developments. In Lebanon, Hizbullah continues to rearm and strengthen despite the presence of the UN multinational force.

The axis of moderate states has still not produced a thing aside from declarations regarding peace in exchange for far reaching Israeli concessions. Despite some change in international public opinion, the world still believes that Israel's policy constitutes a danger that could see the outbreak of a regional war, not to mention a world war.

On the security front, Olmert failed in safeguarding the residents of Sderot, Ashkelon, and the Gaza-region communities in the face of Qassam rocket attacks. The IDF was shown to be a military that is unable to protect the citizens of Israel. It requires more and more resources in exchange for declining performance.

On the internal security front, the Israel Police recorded a series of resounding failures, ranging from the escape of serial rapist Benny Sela to the wallowing in the murder affair of Tair Rada, the 13-year-old girl found dead at her Golan Heights school. Meanwhile, it appears crime is everywhere.

On the employment and welfare front, solutions are being postponed until IDF shortages are funded and the north's rehabilitation is budgeted. When it comes to developing peripheral areas, Olmert did not deliver on his promise to start transferring this year NIS 1.7 billion (roughly USD 400 million) to the Negev region for 10 years. This year he will only transfer a quarter of this amount.

Yet Olmert's failure is not only seen in manifested in running country but also in his personal state. His office manager is facing house arrest in light of an affair going back to Olmert's tenure as finance minister.

The attorney general has to decide whether to launch a criminal investigation over a series of affairs Olmert is involved in, ranging from his private residences in Jerusalem to appointments at the Small and Medium Enterprises Authority when he served as minister of trade, industry and employment. And all this comes even before we heard what the Winograd Commission has to say about his responsibility for the failures of the second Lebanon War.

So at this time, exactly a year since he assumed his post, Olmert has a broad coalition, a budget that was passed more or less on time, and a better international trade balance. At the same time, the current Israeli prime minister's national credit is running out – and we're paying the price.