TZIPI LIVNI BLOWS IT

Tzipi Livni, despite some possible claims, is not resigning from the cabinet over the Winograd committee's sharp indictment of Olmert, which actually does her positions more harm than good. In fact, there's some very surprising revelations in the following to boot:

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told reporters Wednesday evening she would not resign from her post, ending speculation she was on her way out of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's teetering coalition government and telling reporters that she supported Olmert's June 12th decision to go to war against Hizbullah.

"I think my own personal resignation would distort the [Winograd interim] report's intentions," Livni said.

Doesn't make sense, I'm afraid, since, while she may not have been cited directly, the Winograd committee's findings did say that just about the whole government was to blame.

However, Olmert associate Tal Zilberstein told Channel 10 that Livni would be fired, possibly due to Livni telling reporters following their meeting that she believed the prime minister should step down.

"During my meeting with the prime minister I expressed my personal view that I believe he [Olmert] should step down, but despite various media reports, I never gave the prime minister an ultimatum," she told reporters.

An aide close to Olmert said that the prime minister had threatened to fire Livni if she presented him with an ultimatum, the Jerusalem Post learned.

No kidding. He's actually been slowly turning against some of his closest "allies" in the would-be party, Livni being of them (see also this earlier item), and this must be one of those acts. But that still doesn't excuse the fact that she's shown weakness and undermined her credibility by not resigning from the cabinet.

Livni met with Olmert in Jerusalem Wednesday evening for their first face-to-face talks since the Winograd interim report's publication. Despite speculations prior to the 4:00 p.m. meeting, Livni did not give Olmert an ultimatum that if he does not resign within a reasonable time frame, she would leave the cabinet and work toward forcing him out of office.

Speaking at a press conference in Jerusalem, the foreign minister said, "I asked [Olmert] just one thing, to be a full partner in all decision-making processes".

"The war in Lebanon was and still is a traumatic experience for Israel, especially for the families who lost loved ones," but added, "Israel had to undertake a military operation in order to deter its enemies."

This just shows how superficial she's being, since, after all, they backed out when they should've stayed and hammered the Hezbollah into the ground. Instead, they sought desperately to obtain a flaccid "truce" and abandoned two soldiers who were kidnapped by the Hezbollah.

Livni said she would remain in government "to ensure that improvements are carried out."

In other words, what she's saying is basically an extension of what the defiant Olmert has been saying until now - that he won't resign, but rather, will appoint a another committee to review Winograd's findings, but which is really just an excuse to buy more time. Already, on TV, they've said that she was appalling in her press statements, and I think this just about shows how dreadful and unconvincing, not to mention contemptuous, she really is.