Last update - 00:00 12/03/2007
A joke unto the nations
Less than a year has elapsed since Ehud Olmert was elected prime minister and the public is already hankering to replace him. His predecessors Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak both found themselves in a similar situation, even before either of them marked the end of their first year in office. This serial failure is turning Israel into something of a joke in the eyes of the world. A glorious democracy has become a kind of hyper-ocracy, in which leaders are replaced or overthrown in the middle, or even at the beginning, of their term.
Look at what is happening in Europe, the place that many Israelis long to be part of. In the U.K., Prime Minister Tony Blair is about to complete a decade in office. In France, President Jacques Chirac is completing 12 years in office. In Germany, the regime of Chancellor Angela Merkel appears confident and stable. Even in Italy, which has replaced more than 40 governments since the end of World War II, the government looks more stable. Silvio Berlusconi completed a five-year term as prime minister before losing an the election last year to Romano Prodi.
Testifying to the extent to which Israel has become an unstable country is the fact that during the terms of two American presidents (Bill Clinton and George W. Bush), we have had seven prime ministers here. If Olmert ends his time in office prematurely, as expected, his successor will be Israel's eighth premier in 15 years.
Replacements are one thing; The real problem with failed prime ministers is that, with their haplessness, they cause mortal damage to Israel's democracy. Benjamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert came into their high office borne on the wings of tidings and promises of a new era. In the case of all three, the promise evaporated within less than a year. In the time that remained until their actual fall from office, the three busied themselves with heroic measures intended to enable them to survive.
Olmert may well be the most disappointing of all, which is why the populace is so angry at him, ranking him lower than any of his predecessors ever plunged. Israelis elected him and his party only a year ago in the belief that he would continue the legacy of Ariel Sharon.
In the three months he served as a stand-in for the ailing prime minister, Olmert maintained silence a good part of the time. Many people interpreted the silence of this irascible individual as a sign of maturity and wisdom. When he appeared on television, he took care to place Sharon's portrait behind him. When he spoke about his plans, he made a point of reciting Sharon's diplomatic doctrine, whereby the disengagement would be expanded to the West Bank as well. His only diplomatic contribution was the adoption of the public relations term "convergence," as a replacement for "disengagement."
And Olmert did not cease to promise and promise and promise. Like Barak and Netanyahu, Olmert drugged the Israelis with empty promises. And like Barak and Netanyahu, Olmert experienced on his own flesh the extent to which the bursting of the promise is painful.
Before he was elected prime minister, in 1996, Netanyahu succeeded in putting one over on most of the unfortunates in the country. He promised them factories and employment and a rise in their standard of living. In the impoverished Southern town of Ofakim, he won nearly 90 percent of the vote, and in the other development towns of the country's periphery he swept about 80 percent after him. It took the unfortunates just one year to come to their senses from Netanyahu's vanity fair.
Before he was elected to replace Netanyahu, in 1999, Barak invaded territories that had been abandoned by Netanyahu, conquering them by storm in the manner of a glorious fighter in the Sayeret Matkal elite special-operations unit. He promised salvation for the unfortunates and healing for the ill and salvation for the rest of us. The Arabs prostrated themselves before him, so captivated by his promises of equality and justice that 97 percent of them voted for him.
Not a year went by, and none of them wanted to hear about him. Arabs and Jews discovered how hollow his promises had been and anxiously followed the war with the Palestinians that ended up being his legacy.
From all of this it is possible to come to an important conclusion about Israelis' voting patterns. They tend to believe the person who has pretensions of leading them and are even prepared to grant him generous credit. But the moment they discover his failures they bring out the guillotine, and throw him out of office. This is what happened to Netanyahu and Barak, and it is almost certainly about to happen to Olmert too - until some time passes and the merciful Israelis call these leaders back to grant them a second chance.