Barak: Olmert will not get to pick the next justice minister

WASHINGTON - The war of words between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak over Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann gathered steam last night. Responding to Olmert's statement that if he had to choose between Friedmann and Barak, he would pick Friedmann, Barak replied: "If and when the issue arises, I doubt Prime Minister Olmert will be the one dealing with it."

He was referring to the likelihood that Olmert will be replaced following the Kadima Party leadership primary in September.

The battle erupted when Barak, who chairs the Labor Party, said he would demand Friedmann's replacement as part of any coalition negotiations with Olmert's successor.

That remark, which was reported in Sunday's Haaretz, prompted Olmert to make his remark about preferring Friedmann to Barak, while attending a Kadima faction meeting on Monday.

Barak, who is currently in Washington, issued his latest salvo following a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, when Israeli journalists requested his response to Olmert's comment.

"Olmert is in repression," a senior Labor Party official said yesterday. "He is prime minister [only] until the Kadima primary, so his statements are really not relevant. They are meant to create the impression that he is still running the country. When we demand that Friedmann be replaced, Olmert will no longer be prime minister."

At Monday's faction meeting, Olmert accused Barak of "trying to issue diktats from the bottom rung of the ladder ... I'm the prime minister, and if anyone thinks he will force us to fire someone else in order to forge a coalition with him, he is mistaken."

Added Olmert: "I recommend that no one [try to] intimidate Kadima. We're the largest party."

Meanwhile, senior Kadima members who support Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's bid for the party's leadership have expressed concern recently about her "situation in the field."

They said Livni had erred in not making a major effort to recruit new members to the party, relying instead on her popularity to carry the day.