By Stan Goodenough
Dec 14, 2006
Former Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who during his tenure managed to prevent almost all terrorist attacks against Israel's Jews, has expressed his dissatisfaction with the way Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is running the country.
In a report in the daily Ha'aretz Wednesday, Netanyahu was quoted as suggesting that Olmert lacked the sense of "supreme responsibility" needed by an Israeli head of state.
"There is a general sense of slack, as if there were no government," he said.
"All previous prime ministers felt a supreme responsibility; they had an agenda. They were committed to the future of the State of Israel, with the exception of the current prime minister, who said the prime minister doesn't need an agenda. So why is he there?
"In my opinion, this is the first time that Israeli citizens have encountered a prime minister who is there simply because he is there."
Public opinion polls in Israel are currently giving Olmert an all-time low amidst a growing chorus of calls from both inside and outside the country for him to resign.