150,000 rally against Olmert

What is happening in Israel? Are the people actually shedding some of their notorious "Israeli apathy" and beginning to care about the direction of the government? Not sure about this, but seeing 150,000 in Tel Aviv Square demanding Ehud Olmert's resignation is at least SOMETHING; a sign of LIFE from the usually unconscious Israelis.

No, the rally is not a rightwing event demanding an anti-concessionist leader to replace the pathetic and corrupt Olmert, it's more of an anybody-but-Ehud sentiment that has little to do with seeking substantive policy changes. Still, some interest in a change is still better than complete laissez faire obliviousness, so I'll take it.

Hopefully, what comes from this will be a momentum against Kadima and towards Zionist solutions. I know Zionism is dying in Israel from the spread of politically correct liberalism, but if this rally in typically disinterested Tel Aviv can help light the fire of nationalism somehow, well, maybe there's hope the State of Israel will survive the arab menace for a few more years.

Still, because Olmert abjectly refuses to even consider leaving his post despite record unpopularity, and the corrupt and fearful opposition MK's are not willing risk their cushy jobs by forcing early elections, the best that we can reasonably expect is Olmert being forced to resign from within after the Winegrad final report is released in August, leaving equally concessionist Tzipi Livni as head of the government.

BFD.

Olmert is a lame duck, everyone knows it, but what happens when he is eventually removed from power is still not exactly a rosy picture at this point. Still, we can at least hope for the positive momentum of protest to carry forward a somewhat less concessionist government that leans towards Jewish interests first.

Time will tell.

-MZ