Israel's FM Tells Olmert to Resign
By Tzippe Barrow
CBN News - Jerusalem Bureau
May 2, 2007
CBNNews.com - JERUSALEM, Israel - This afternoon, following a one-hour meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni became the most senior member of the coalition to call for the prime minister's resignation.
"During my meeting with the prime minister, I expressed my personal view that I believe he should step down, but despite various media reports, I never gave the prime minister an ultimatum, she said. "I told him that resignation would be the right thing for him to do."
Livni said that Kadima should continue to lead the coalition and early elections were not in the country's best interest at this time.
"I believe that Kadima should stay and run the State of Israel," she said. "When the time comes, I will announce my candidacy for the party's leadership.
"I believe general elections would be a mistake as the State of Israel needs stability," she said. The last elections were held just 14 months ago.
Livni said that advising Olmert to step down was "not a personal matter" between them. She called the situation they're dealing with "more important than both of us."
In response, Olmert purportedly told Livni that she needed to weigh her moves and decide what she wanted to do. "You can't subvert me and remain my number two," he is said to have told her.
Earlier today, in a meeting with his Cabinet to discuss the ramifications of the report, the prime minister advised his adversaries to "cool down."
"I recommend to those who are in a hurry to take advantage of this situation to cool down," he said.
This morning on Israel Radio, Kadima party chairman Avigdor Yitzhaki said that if Olmert doesn't resign, he would step down as Kadima's parliamentary chairman.
"In order for Kadima to return to being a legitimate ruling party and for the sake of the prime minister and the entire country, I think the prime minister has to resign," said Yitzhaki.
Since the report's release Monday afternoon, the prime minister's options have been steadily dwindling. Results of the latest polls revealed that 73 percent of the public want him to leave office.
Sources: The Jerusalem Post, YNet
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