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Our silent ministers
Country faces turmoil over Olmert affair, but ministers continue to say nothing
Roni Sofer
The ministers of this government are in hiding somewhere. Just like in the Second Lebanon War,
the leaders are in the command room on the safe side of the border. The war is already taking place on the ground, but they are still in their bunker.
For a whole week now, the ministers have not taken their head of the bunker. Instead, they watch on their screens how their prime minister falls into suspicions that he received envelopes filled with cash; plenty of cash, allegedly hundreds of thousands of dollars.
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| Olmert: I must consider ramifications of resignation / Yitzhak Benhorin |
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In interview with US newspapers, prime minister addresses new police investigation against him, says he does not believe he should step down at this point |
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There are four ministers in Kadima
who view themselves as premiership candidates: Tzipi Livni,
Shaul Mofaz, Meir Sheetrit, and Avi Dichter. Each one of them feels they can be potential prime ministers if and when Olmert
vacates his seat. At the end of Israel’s 60th Independence Day,
when the entire country was preoccupied with the Olmert affair,
they had nothing to say, either good or bad. They have not backed Olmert and did not attack him either. They are sitting, just like their colleagues, paralyzed in front of the screens.
Yet not only them: The four Shas
ministers are waiting for a sign from the party’s spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. The ministers of the Pensioners Party have not yet recovered from their faction split, where billionaire Arcadi Gaydamak paid good money for one third of their party. In the Labor Party,
Ehud Barak
held a few consultations this week, but for the time being we have silence there too; they continue to sit on their chairs and watch the forces move on their large screens, just like everyone else.
Thursday night, on the patio of the prime minister’s official residence, Olmert declared
that he would quit should Attorney General Mazuz decide to serve an indictment against him. Olmert at least did something, even if we are talking about an advanced survival technique: Placing the responsibility for his resignation on the attorney general in the midst of a complex diplomatic process vis-à-vis the Palestinians, a possible war in Gaza, a possible war against Hizbullah,
which is growing stronger in the north, and possible peace contacts with Syria.
Yet for each of the other 23 ministers, paralysis reigns supreme. Nobody stands up. Nobody says anything. Just like the entire nation, they too are suffering from the intoxicated-by-the-screen syndrome.
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