In the wake of the Winograd Commission's interim report, opposition politicians are putting public pressure on coalition member parties Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu to quit the government. Such a move by Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman and Shas party chairman Eli Yishai would likely lead to the collapse of the current administration and new Knesset elections.



In a televised interview Monday night, Likud MK Gilad Erdan reminded the Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu representatives that their voters did not elect them to sit in a government of failed leadership such as that of Ehud Olmert. "The government failed. It caused great political and military damage to the country," said MK Erdan, "And what the people need

"Only the departure of those two parties will lead to the dissolution of Kadima...." - MK Tzvi Hendel

now is an election campaign that will determine who will lead the state of Israel at this critical time."



MK Tzvi Hendel (National Union-NRP) also called on Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu to withdraw from the government. "Only the departure of those two parties will lead to the dissolution of Kadima and the establishment of a national emergency government," Hendel said.



Both Minister Yishai and Minister Lieberman heard Judge Winograd explain that the committee had not planned to publish an extensive interim report, MK Hendel noted, until the committee members realized that the government had not learned a single lesson from the war's failures. The dramatic interim report was issued precisely because the committee wanted to shake up the system, according to Winograd's statement Monday evening.



MK Hendel said that he has begun a round of discussions with the leadership of Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu in an effort to prompt the coalition's political demise.



It appears, however, that Yisrael Beiteinu's Lieberman sees things quite differently. In an interview with Israel Radio on Tuesday morning, the Strategic Affairs Minister said that now is not the time for national elections. He said that the systemic reforms and lessons that need to be implemented according to the Winograd report cannot be successfully carried out if the nation is simultaneously plunged into an election campaign.



MK Zahava Gal'on (Meretz) called on all government ministers, across the board, to tender their resignations. Praising Labor MK Eitan Cabel's resignation from his post as Minister without Portfolio, Gal'on said, "T

MK Gal-On (Meretz) called on all government ministers to tender their resignations.

he rest of his colleagues in the government who pushed for the war, who also have the burden of failure on their shoulders, should show integrity, take responsibility, and follow in his footsteps." 



Regarding the Prime Minister's next political move, Ministers Yishai and Lieberman reportedly met Tuesday and agreed that Olmert need not resign at this point.



In reaction to Minister Yishai's report to him about the Winograd Commission findings, Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef said Tuesday that if the government had listened to him, things would have turned out differently.



"If they had listened to us during the war, then everything would look better," Rabbi Yosef told Minister Yishai. The Shas chairman later clarified that his party had requested heavy bombardment from the air of more extensive Hizbullah-controlled areas during the Second Lebanon War.