No-confidence motions were submitted by United Torah Judaism, the Likud, National Union - National Religious Party, Yisrael Beitenu (Israel Our Home), Meretz and the United Arab List.
At the Monday afternoon session, MK Yaakov Litzman (United Torah Judaism) presented his party's objections to the government's refusal to subsidize critical medicines for cancer patients. He said that the money was available - "10-12 billion shekels remained unused from the previous budget" - but that the government refuses to use it for the medicines. "And someone expects me to vote confidence in this government?" he asked rhetorically.
The left-wing Meretz party also attacked the government, with party leader MK Ran Cohen asking the Knesset to topple it.
The Yisrael Beiteinu party, headed by MK Avigdor Lieberman, filed its no-confidence motion on the backdrop of Olmert's unilateral withdrawal. Lieberman asked where the necessary billions of shekels would come from, and then said, "How is it that Olmert tells the whole world on CNN that Abu Mazen is weak and has absolutely no power, and at the same time, three of his [Olmert's] government ministers - Peres, Livny and Ben-Eliezer - were talking with Abu Mazen in Sharm a-Sheikh? And then, the next day in Washington, Olmert calls Abu Mazen 'President' and promises to meet him - this is serious? A man who changes his mind so totally in just one day?"
Lieberman concluded by calling on Kadima to rid the coalition of the Labor Party and form a new coalition with Yisrael Beiteinu: "We hear now of the tensions between Olmert and [Labor leader Amir] Peretz. I warned the whole time that there can be nothing more unnatural than a Kadima-Labor alliance. It's total shaatnez [a Biblically-forbidden mixture]. The sooner Kadima rids itself of Labor and forms a new government with us, the sooner we will be able to find the solutions for the country's real problems, such as Iran and the PA. Once we join the coalition, there will not be any convergence plan; it's a totally irrelevant plan, just like the Labor Party."
MK Benny Elon (National Union) (pictured) similarly attacked Olmert: "How can it be that we don't learn from our mistakes? Don't we see the Kassam rockets being fired from what used to be the Jewish town of Dugit in northern Gaza? What did we gain from it? ... And now, we have our Prime Minister going to bother President Bush, who has problems from within and without, and who knows that there is one main crisis facing the world, and that is Iran - and then comes our little provincial prime minister, from little Israel, coming to give him speeches about how he [Bush] will go down in history if he helps throw out more Jews from their homes in the Land of Israel. Doesn't Olmert realize that the main issue now is Iran, and not our problems with the Palestinians?"
Olmert and Peretz were also at odds, having failed to settle their dispute over the Defense Budget. The issue will be raised at the cabinet meeting set for Tuesday.
At the Monday afternoon session, MK Yaakov Litzman (United Torah Judaism) presented his party's objections to the government's refusal to subsidize critical medicines for cancer patients. He said that the money was available - "10-12 billion shekels remained unused from the previous budget" - but that the government refuses to use it for the medicines. "And someone expects me to vote confidence in this government?" he asked rhetorically.
The left-wing Meretz party also attacked the government, with party leader MK Ran Cohen asking the Knesset to topple it.
The Yisrael Beiteinu party, headed by MK Avigdor Lieberman, filed its no-confidence motion on the backdrop of Olmert's unilateral withdrawal. Lieberman asked where the necessary billions of shekels would come from, and then said, "How is it that Olmert tells the whole world on CNN that Abu Mazen is weak and has absolutely no power, and at the same time, three of his [Olmert's] government ministers - Peres, Livny and Ben-Eliezer - were talking with Abu Mazen in Sharm a-Sheikh? And then, the next day in Washington, Olmert calls Abu Mazen 'President' and promises to meet him - this is serious? A man who changes his mind so totally in just one day?"
Lieberman concluded by calling on Kadima to rid the coalition of the Labor Party and form a new coalition with Yisrael Beiteinu: "We hear now of the tensions between Olmert and [Labor leader Amir] Peretz. I warned the whole time that there can be nothing more unnatural than a Kadima-Labor alliance. It's total shaatnez [a Biblically-forbidden mixture]. The sooner Kadima rids itself of Labor and forms a new government with us, the sooner we will be able to find the solutions for the country's real problems, such as Iran and the PA. Once we join the coalition, there will not be any convergence plan; it's a totally irrelevant plan, just like the Labor Party."
MK Benny Elon (National Union) (pictured) similarly attacked Olmert: "How can it be that we don't learn from our mistakes? Don't we see the Kassam rockets being fired from what used to be the Jewish town of Dugit in northern Gaza? What did we gain from it? ... And now, we have our Prime Minister going to bother President Bush, who has problems from within and without, and who knows that there is one main crisis facing the world, and that is Iran - and then comes our little provincial prime minister, from little Israel, coming to give him speeches about how he [Bush] will go down in history if he helps throw out more Jews from their homes in the Land of Israel. Doesn't Olmert realize that the main issue now is Iran, and not our problems with the Palestinians?"
Olmert and Peretz were also at odds, having failed to settle their dispute over the Defense Budget. The issue will be raised at the cabinet meeting set for Tuesday.