Hardly a day passed after Olmert’s resignation announcement Wednesday and Israel already was entering the thick of an election campaign.
Benjamin Netanyahu called for immediate general elections, Ehud Barak touted his own credentials and Kadima’s Tzipi Livni and Shaul Mofaz prepared to do battle to succeed Olmert (with consultants Eyal Arad helping Livni and Arthur Finkelstein on Mofaz’s team).
- Is the Sephardic Mofaz the Barack Obama of Israel, and Livni the Hillary Clinton? Hardly, writes Amir Oren of Ha’aretz.
- Will this election again be just about national security, or will the candidates also offer a domestic vision for Israel, asks columnist Amotz Asa-el in his open letter to Livni, published in the Jerusalem Post.
- The malaise in Israel’s leadership extends far beyond Ehud Olmert, writes David Kimche in the Jerusalem Post.
- And Ha’aretz’s Yoel Marcus warns against rushing to new general elections: “This country needs early elections like a hole in the head.”
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