Senior party member calls on Olmert to quit
1 hour, 3 minutes ago
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A senior member of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's party called on him to resign on Wednesday to make way for a new government following an official report criticizing his handling of the Lebanon war.
"A leader can only lead a public where he has, firstly, legitimacy and its confidence. The prime minister should act responsibly and resign to allow a new coalition to be formed by Kadima," the centrist Kadima party's parliamentary faction head, Avigdor Yitzhaki, told
Israel Radio.
The fallout against Olmert began with the resignation of a cabinet minister of his main governing partner, the Labour Party, on Tuesday.
It later engulfed Olmert's Kadima party whose parliament deputies drafted a letter urging him to quit.
On Monday a government-appointed commission on last year's Lebanon war issued findings accusing the prime minister of "serious" failures in decision-making.
Olmert suffered his toughest blow when Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, a close associate with Kadima, was quoted as telling aides "he must go."
Olmert will convene a special cabinet meeting on Wednesday to try to get its members to adopt a plan to implement the changes proposed by so-called Winograd commission, which blamed political and military leaders for the war's failings.