Public Security Minister Avi Dichter denied Tuesday calling for an end to investigations of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert while he is in office. Dichter's comment, reported in Haaretz Tuesday, has provoked outrage and sparked calls for him to resign. However, Dichter told Army Radio Tuesday he had not been speaking about Olmert at all in his statement but only of future prime ministers.

Both Labor MKs Ophir Pines-Paz and Shelly Yachimovich Tuesday called for Dichter's resignation in response to his statement to halt probes of prime ministers in office.

"Dichter cannot remain in office even one more day. The minister in charge of law enforcement is signaling to the police that it should not investigate the prime minister," Pines-Paz, head of the Knesset Interior Committee, said. "He is obstructing the police investigation, implying that Olmert is immune and that he is above the law," he said.