48 hour grace: Avidgor Lieberman pulls out leaving the Kadima coalition wobbling with a mere 7 seat majority.

Olmert will try to tag United Torah Judaism, but whom are we kidding? He’s going to run left as fast as he can and claim a ‘mandate’ by stuffing the ultra left wing Meretz party in his Kadima pocket. If Shas plays their own pullout card soon, and they likely will with the party’s head Rabbi giving his blessing to safeguard Jerusalem, that already leaves Kadima in a lurch and poised to fall. If Ehud Barak’s big statements this past summer to the effect that he will pull Labor out of the coalition after the Lebanon War Winograd report is released hold true, unlikely as that will be since he desires power.. Then no matter how much dealing Olmert does his coalition is toasted.

Meanwhile, Olmert even with a coalition is standing on a precarious spot. He’s got no public support, little coalition support, near zero Arabic support in their efforts in the West Bank, a snapping US Secretary of State with grandiose ideas, Hezbollah vying to takeover Lebanon supported by Iran & Syria while building up a missile army to the North, Gaza overrun with Jihadist Hamasniks to the west, and a now unbridled Iranian nuclear program to deal with on the East with nary an international ally uttering much of a peep by his side. Combine all that with the territory-less Al Qaeda offshoots popping up just about everywhere in the region in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Gaza, not too mention a qassam rocket war blitzing Israel’s southern cities, and three missing soldiers to cap it all off..

Something somewhere’s got to give.

Israel Beiteinu quits Olmert’s coalition (JPOST)

Lieberman blasts Israeli Arabs, pulls party out of government (Haaretz)

Yisrael Beiteinu leaves government (YNET)

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Israel at the Polls – Tough slog for the coalition