Talkback Attack, Protest Planned as PM Defiant Ahead of Winograd
(IsraelNN.com) Kadima party activists supporting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and National Religious Party (NRP) activists opposed to the Olmert administration have already planned their reactions to the publication of the Winograd Committee's report Wednesday evening. The Prime Minister remains adamant that there will be no new elections in the wake of the report, which analyzes the management of the Second Lebanon War in 2006.
Kadima party activists are preparing to flood news websites and online forums with talkbacks in favor of Prime Minister Olmert following the release of the Winograd Report. According to a Yediot Acharonot report, a core group of activists plans to search for articles relating to the Winograd Report and send in as many responses as possible in support of Olmert. They are also planning to vote repeatedly in online polls regarding the issue.
Information from Yalla Kadima and other pro-Kadima websites indicate that the "talkback attack" is to begin Wednesday evening and continue over the following days. The virtual activists will be "on call" around the clock.
On the other end of the political spectrum, NRP activists plan to demonstrate on Wednesday opposite the Jerusalem home of Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor Eli Yishai, head of the Shas party. Protesters plan to call on Yishai to leave the government, which they hope will precipitate a coalition crisis and the fall of the Olmert government.
On Tuesday, Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, telephoned Prime Minister Olmert to encourage him prior to the publication of the Winograd Report. Shas political leaders have said that the party would quit the coalition if senior government negotiators talk with the Palestinian Authority about ceding parts of Jerusalem.
NRP members said that the demonstration at Minister Yishai's home will take place in any weather. It is planned to start just as the Winograd Committee report is released.
PM Olmert's Preemptive Strike
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has taken the offensive even before the Winograd Committee issues its final report. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Olmert insisted that there will be no elections before his term of office ends in late 2010. %ad%
Finance Minister Ronnie Bar-On told a a Kadima party rally in Tiberias on Tuesday night that early elections would not be good for the country. According to Bar-On, the nation is in good shape economically and diplomatically, according to Bar-On.
"For the first time in seven years there is an attempt to create a diplomatic process and the economy is growing," Minister Bar-On declared. "The State of Israel will pay a heavy price if it goes to elections."
Another of Prime Minister Olmert's strongest supporters, Knesset Member Otniel Shneller, wrote a letter to fellow Kadima MKs calling for their support of the party leader. In any case, he asserted, if the Winograd Report unequivocally asks Olmert to resign, then the Prime Minister will understand the consequences on his own.
Shneller's letter also included advice on how to react to the Winograd Report. He suggested that Kadima MKs not argue with families of fallen soldiers, but present what he said are facts that the IDF and government have repaired their mistakes and are stronger than ever in the north. Shneller laid the blame for the problematic management of the Second Lebanon War on past government leaders, who did not place enough emphasis on the IDF's readiness.
MKs in the Prime Minister's Kadima party are generally sitting on the fence regarding how best to react to the Winograd Report. Labor party MKs are leaning towards staying in the coalition, but MK Shelly Yechimovich is trying to line up support for ousting Prime Minister Olmert, whom she accuses of being corrupt.
While it is likely to expose serious flaws in the planning and execution of the 2006 war, the Winograd Report has no legislative mandate to place responsibility for failure on any individual.
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