PM's rivals, both in and out of Kadima, silent on new case

Friday's revelations about a new investigation against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have drawn muted reactions from his main rivals - not only in his own Kadima Party, but also in Labor and Likud.

Labor officials yesterday rejected criticism that their leader, Ehud Barak, had not been vocal enough in response to the new revelations.

"Ehud Barak does not need to provide Kadima with solutions. He led the most significant political move to replace Olmert, and just as he did two months ago, he thinks the prime minister cannot remain in his post," a source close to Barak said yesterday.

The sixth police investigation, now known as the "Olmertours" affair, caught Kadima in the midst of preparations for a leadership primary in September.

The four candidates to replace Olmert - Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter and Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit - remained silent throughout the weekend. Livni made a short statement at yesterday's conference in Paris on the Mediterranean Union, but mostly, it was the candidates' cronies who were talking.

"It is clear that Olmert will not run [in the primary], and in September, there will be a new chairman. So what's the point?" a source in the party said yesterday, trying to justify the candidates' silence.

According to an aide to one of the candidate ministers, "this affair no longer matters very much. This is another case, but Olmert's end has already been sealed."

Another voice conspicuous by its absence is that of opposition head MK Benjamin Netanyahu. A source close to him explained: "Netanyahu believes that Olmert should have resigned a long time ago. He will find the chance to comment, perhaps during the upcoming [Likud] faction meeting. There is no strategy behind the silence."

The only Likud figure to comment publicly on Olmertours thus far has been the faction chairman, MK Gideon Sa'ar, who blamed Labor and Kadima for allowing the prime minister to remain in his post.

"Olmert's presence in the government constitutes a public and moral disgrace," he said. "Making do with waiting for the Kadima primary, the establishment of an alternative government or the arrival of the Messiah does not change this fact ... Whoever is silent is party [to the shame], because he allows Olmert to remain in office, even though he is not worthy."