Shalom: Barak has become Olmert's 'poodle'

"He was serious about overthrowing Olmert, but after Olmert threatened to fire him, he peed in his pants."

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
Barak pshh 224.88 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski )
Barak pshh 224.88
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski )
The opposition attacked Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Kadima and Labor Chairman Ehud Barak on Wednesday, slamming the deal signed overnight between the two parties that will apparently allow the government to survive. The deal promising a Kadima primary by September 25 infuriated Likud MK Silvan Shalom, who sponsored the legislation that was supposed to be voted in first reading on Wednesday to dissolve the Knesset and set a November date for the next general election. Shalom tried to downplay his disappointment, saying that it was a reach for a faction like the Likud with only 12 MKs to topple the government. But he said he had been given the impression by Barak that there was no chance of a last-minute deal. "Barak started off as a doberman and ended up as Olmert's poodle," Shalom said. "He was serious about overthrowing Olmert, but after Olmert threatened to fire him, he peed in his pants and proved that he cared more about his own personal benefit than the good of the nation." The Likud released a statement comparing Barak's behavior on Wednesday to how he acted after the release of the Winograd Report on the Second Lebanon War, when Barak threatened to quit but did not keep his promise. Likud MK Yuval Steinitz said it would never happen in the United States or Britain that the defense minister would call for the prime minister to resign and then they could go on working together. He said the deal proved that Olmert was "the best con artist in the country." Kadima MK Tzahi Hanegbi, who negotiated the deal with Labor Secretary Eitan Cabel, said he could understand the Likud's frustration. "They had their jaws on the carrion, which was toppling the government, but the carrion will survive," Cabel said. He denied that any promises made to Shalom were broken, saying that Labor "doesn't work for the Likud." Meretz MK Zehava Gal-On said Labor gave a "three-month extension to the term of a prime minister who is under corruption investigations." "Labor should have demanded the immediate suspension of the prime minister and the establishment of an alternative government," she said. National Religious Party Chairman Zevulun Orlev said Barak had "spat in the face of Israeli citizens." "The receiver of envelopes and the violator of commitments have broken a record for cynicism in a stinking maneuver that they have cooked up," Orlev said. "The Ehuds are living inside a bubble and cannot hear the public outcry of people shouting that they are sick of corrupt politicians, but their political end will come soon."