Will Olmert government fall in Israel?
By Eric Ruder | May 11, 2007 | Page 16 SOME 100,000 protesters flooded Rabin Square in the Israeli capital of Tel Aviv in early May to call for the ouster of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, but after surviving three no-confidence votes in parliament a few days later, it appeared that Olmert would hang on. Olmert has suffered single-digit approval ratings and calls for his resignation since the partial release of a report by the Winograd Commission, which investigated the causes of Israel’s humiliating defeat by Hezbollah during Israel’s invasion of Lebanon last summer. The commission didn’t focus on the war crimes that Israel committed in launching a war that forced one-quarter of the Lebanese population to flee their homes, but rather on Israel’s embarrassment at failing to achieve its goal of crushing Hezbollah. The panel’s criticism was directed at Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and Army Chief of Staff Dan Halutz. Peretz has already announced he’ll step down from his post after Is
