lsrael's prime minister Ehud Olmert has reportedly authorized his Kadima Party to prepare for a leadership contest. Following a meeting with senior party officials, "Olmert gave the green light to start the process of drafting recommendations for a party primary," a leading Kadima official told the AFP news agency. The party's steering committee is due to start deliberations on Monday. Olmert suffered a stinging blow when the number two in his party, foreign minister Tzipi Livni, called for primary elections over suspicions that Olmert had unlawfully accepted large sums of money from a US businessman. The prime minister and Kadima leader has denied any wrongdoing but said he would step down should charges be brought against him.
Kadima MP and Olmert ally Otniel Shneller told AFP that the decision to hold elections for the Kadima leadership did not mean Olmert has agreed to step down. "Our party has to start preparing for the possibility that the prime minister will decide to quit the party. He nevertheless did not agree to set a date for the vote," he said. Shneller expressed hope the move would satisfy the Labor Party, Kadima's main coalition partner, whose defense minister Ehud Barak called on Olmert to step down over the latest graft investigation.
According to the Jerusalem Post newspaper, Barak told a meeting of Labor Party officials that "There is no point in making a formal decision that would obligate us before necessary decisions are made on the other side [Kadima]. It looks like we will join and lead the proposal for the preliminary vote on the bill to disperse the Knesset on 25 June. We prefer stability," he reportedly assured, but added that "if reality requires it, we are not afraid of competing in the public in elections."
Meanwhile, one of the likely contenders in the Kadima leadership contest, transport minister Shaul Mofaz, has said a military strike against Iran was “inevitable. If Iran presses ahead with its plan to develop nuclear weapons, we will attack it," he told the Israeli 'Yediot Achronot' newspaper, adding: "The window of opportunity is closing. The sanctions are not effective. To stop the Iranian nuclear program, an attack is inevitable."
