Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
defended Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni during the weekly government meeting on Sunday, as well as the UN Security Council's Resolution 1701, which Livni promoted following the Second Lebanon War.
"A man woke up in the morning and a mosquito bit him, and he decided to attack someone in Kadima, in this case Tzipi," Olmert said, referring to comments made against the foreign minister by Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
Regarding the UN resolution he said, "Resolution 1701 brought peace to the north. If we spoke less we would lose less and win more." His remark was a response to Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer's claims that Hizbullah
had gained power since the war, and his demand that the government refrain from cutting the defense budget in light of this.
"We can't afford to be weak," Ben-Eliezer said. "I hear Arabic and I hear Nasrallah and I believe him when he says he is rearming." Livni interjected and said, "You can listen to the heads of security who speak Arabic during the cabinet meeting when they say that this decision completely changed the situation in southern Lebanon."
During his concluding speech Olmert accused Barak of having prevented a serious debate on the issue of national security from taking place. "This government is incapable of holding a serious debate about the security system because you are preventing it," the prime minister said.
Olmert began the speech on a positive note, however, and claimed that the government had succeeded in building "something that inspires awe in the entire world. Our economy inspires envy, curiosity, and admiration in all of the world's important locations."
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