Calling Up Olmert

During the election campaign we all lampooned Olmert for saying in a major speech in the USA: “We are tired of fighting, we are tired of being courageous, we are tired of winning, we are tired of defeating our enemies.”

True to that ethos, he has held his army back again and again. And when they have been allowed to move, it has been just to rattle sabres and fire artillery into sand dunes, so as not to upset the ‘civilized world’ which sits in judgment over Israel’s every defensive move.

He has lost a week in wasteful diplomacy, relying on anti-Semites like Mubarak and Abbas to save the life of a teenaged Jewish soldier. During that lost week Hamas will have wasted no time marshalling the tank-traps, antiaircraft missiles and RPG’s they have freely imported since disengagement to counter the non-surprise attack which must now follow if Olmert is to make good on his promises to retrieve Gilad Shalit.

What’s more, we can expect the opening of a northern front with Hezbullah firing missiles in support of their brother terrorists in the south. This promises to be no cakewalk.

It is to be hoped that, during that same week, the reservist prime minister has accepted his call-up orders to: “fight, be courageous, win and defeat our enemies”.