Olmert becomes a law unto himself

Stand-in leader decides: No probe into police violence, more evacuations

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By Ryan Jones
February 06, 2006

Reports out of Israel's cabinet meeting Sunday suggested that Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was coming dangerously close to seeing himself as the absolute ruler of the Jewish state.

Olmert's somewhat unexpected authoritarian behavior, despite being the head of a temporary caretaker administration, has been explained as an effort to appear as “tough” as his predecessor Ariel Sharon prior to Israel's general election on March 28.

Right-wing officials charged that is why the stand-in leader refused to reach a compromise with Jewish settlers ahead of last week's bloody destruction of the Binyamin community of Amona – he needed a show of force against a sector of the population reviled by his core left-wing constituency.

And now Olmert has unilaterally decided there will be no investigation into allegations of police brutality during the Amona evacuation, despite calls for such an inquiry across the political spectrum and from much of the public.

Suggesting those calls are nothing more than political maneuvering to wrest votes from his Kadima Party, Ha'aretz quoted Olmert as telling the Cabinet:

“The security forces cannot be exploited as a means for discrediting the government.”

There are about 100 Israeli youths with cracked skulls and broken bones who can probably think of much better reasons for an investigation than stealing a few votes.

Olmert's new right hand, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, went on to tell Israel's top ministers that further evacuations of so-called “illegal” Jewish communities in the coming two months will take place without their or anyone else's approval.

Olmert, Israel's unelected prime minister, is the only relevant authority when it comes to such matters, she insinuated.

Related Articles:

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• Olmert government set to self-destruct?
• Crises threaten to sink Israeli government
• Post-Olmert options - New Kadima PM or early elections
• Olmert's days as PM now numbered

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