Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08TELAVIV1363
2008-06-25 16:10:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tel Aviv
Cable title:  

BOTH SIDES BLINKED: BARAK-OLMERT DEAL KEEPS

Tags:  PGOV PINR IS 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO3001
OO RUEHROV
DE RUEHTV #1363 1771610
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 251610Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7284
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 001363 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/25/2013
TAGS: PGOV PINR IS
SUBJECT: BOTH SIDES BLINKED: BARAK-OLMERT DEAL KEEPS
KNESSET INTACT, SETS KADIMA PRIMARY DATE

REF: TEL AVIV 1334

Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Luis G. Moreno. Reason 1.5 (B/D
)

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 001363

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/25/2013
TAGS: PGOV PINR IS
SUBJECT: BOTH SIDES BLINKED: BARAK-OLMERT DEAL KEEPS
KNESSET INTACT, SETS KADIMA PRIMARY DATE

REF: TEL AVIV 1334

Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Luis G. Moreno. Reason 1.5 (B/D
)


1. (C) Summary: PM Olmert and MOD Barak reached political
agreement on a way forward that resolves the coalition crisis
sparked by the opposition's plan (now abandoned) to vote on a
bill to dissolve the Knesset (reftel). In essence, Olmert
agreed to Barak's demand that he spell out a time-frame for
holding Kadima Party primaries -- not later than September
25, 2008. In return, Barak withdrew Labor Party support for
the Likud bill to dissolve the Knesset, a move that would
have hastened early elections. The impact of the Ehud-Ehud
deal is that it will perpetuate the current governing
coalition's survival, yet possibly hasten a change of Kadima
party leader and, subsequently, the Prime Minister. The
possibility of general elections in 2008 has consequently
become more remote, as most parties in the Knesset -- with
the exception of the Likud Party -- are not ready or willing
to risk losing their seats halfway through their Knesset
term, which officially runs through fall 2010. Olmert,
however, could still decide to run in the Kadima primaries,
and he is unlikely to make such a decision before the July 17
cross-examination of Morris Talansky. End Summary.

--------------
Last-Minute Deal Averts Coalition Crisis
--------------


2. (C) Kadima MK Tzachi Hanegbi told poloffs June 25 that he
slept just two hours over the night of June 24-25 as he
negotiated the terms of a deal between PM Ehud Olmert and MOD
Ehud Barak. Both Ehuds managed to step back from a
procedural precipice and agree on political terms that
allowed the Labor Party to withdraw its threat to vote with
the Likud Party and other right-wing opposition parties on a
Knesset dissolution bill. Although some Labor MK's, such as
MK Braverman and MK Ami Ayalon observed these parliamentary
maneuvers with distaste, they and their staff acknowledged
that Barak had achieved his limited objective: confirming the
time-frame of Kadima primaries. Other Laborites reportedly
crowed to the press that Barak's achievement struck a blow at
Likud and marked the beginning of the end of Olmert's tenure,
but many Labor (and Kadima) insiders are more modest: this
deal shifts attention to the Talansky cross-examination
scheduled for July 17 (reftel) and its public impact on
Kadima primaries, which all Knesset and PMO contacts believe
will be held in mid-September 2008. Embassy contacts in the
office of Olmert's Cabinet Secretary told emboffs that
Olmert's lawyers are likely to challenge Talansky's
assertions, such as the allegation that Olmert traveled to
Italy on a Talansky-funded vacation, as unfounded in fact.

--------------
Bitter Barbs Between Olmert and Bibi
--------------


3. (U) Following news of the Labor-Kadima deal that
preserves the current Knesset status quo and staves off early
elections, the opposition MK's convened a special debate "on
the future of the government" in the plenary, a move that
required the prime minister to take the floor. Olmert
sketched out the range of issues his government is handling
-- notably on prisoner issues relating to Gilad Shalit and
Hamas and soldiers kidnapped by Hizballah -- and accused the
Likud-led opposition of "not wanting peace" and failing to
present an "alternative" to what the current government is
doing. Opposition leader and Likud Chairman, Binyamin
Netanyahu, retorted that Olmert's government was a
"government of failures" that was only concerned about saving
its seats in the Knesset. His right-hand man, Likud MK
Gideon Saar went a step further in the vitriolic debate,
calling the government a "coalition of cowards" who are
"fearful of the elections and of the public." He lambasted
Labor MK's as "pushovers" (to Kadima). Knesset Speaker Dalia
Itzik had Saar removed from the podium, but the opposition
heckling of the government from the plenary continued
throughout the tumultuous session, which, nonetheless
approved Olmert's statement by a vote of 44 to 34 with six
abstentions.

********************************************* ********************
Visit Embassy Tel Aviv's Classified Website:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/telaviv

You can also access this site through the State Department's
Classified SIPRNET website.
********************************************* ********************
JONES