Who would of thunk that 9 days ahead of Election Day, the real debate would be between the Prime Minister and his predecessor, leaving the leaders of the center-left parties wondering why they have not succeeded in challenging the Prime Minister.
The Debate over Netanyahu's responsibilities with regard to Iran has reached a new level, just in time. Whilev olmert may not Like Netanyahu, he doesn't like Livni and Yechimovich either. He sees himself as a potentiual contender for the Premiership in the coming knesset election, which he hope will be sooner than later, ready to jump aborad and replace Netanyahu, and he won't let anything stop him, even if he strengthens Likud by some point.
Sunday Morning marked the second phase in the Olmert Netanyahu debate over Iran. After Netanyahu rebuked this morning Olmert's charges Saturday night that the Prime minister has wasted 11 Billion NIS preparing for a strike on Iran, Netanyahu continued to argue that he did the job what other should of done earlier.
"Over
the weekend, somebody criticized my government over the investments we
made in security. Indeed, in contrast to governments that invested
billions in the disengagement, we invested billions in building up our
strength so as to ensure the security of Israel's citizens," Netanyahu said at the weekly cabinet meeting.
Olmert did not waste
time in firing back. At a conference at the Kinneret College hours after
Netanyahu's radio interview, the former PM addressed the 2007 bombing
of the Syrian nuclear reactor – "an event which took place only
according to foreign reports."
"When I hear of ministers lashing out at things I said, the money and
investments, I think about this event which no one had heard of before
President Bush mentioned a telephone call he had with me," Olmert said.
"Did anybody hear about it? Did anybody blow the horn and announce
they were going to do it? The people of Israel woke up one morning to
learn that something that had happened prevented a change in its way of
life.
"I could
have claimed credit for the event in Syria, but there was complete
silence. The only one who spoke about it was then opposition chairman,
Benjamin Netanyahu, who took it straight to the TV."
