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Livni to Kadima: Get ready for elections
By Mazal Mualem, Shahar Ilan and Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondents and Haaretz Service
Tags: Ehud Olmert, Israel 

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Thursday made a long-awaited statement on the corruption charges facing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, calling on Kadima to prepare for elections and declaring her support for party primaries.

"Kadima needs to start preparing for every eventuality, including elections," she said in a meeting with journalists in Jerusalem.

Referring to Defense Minister Ehud Barak's call on Wednesday for Olmert to step aside, which he made after Jewish American businessman Morris Talansky testified on the hundreds of thousands of dollars he is suspected of transferring the prime minister, Livni said that "the reality changed after yesterday. Kadima needs to make decisions on what it will do. It is impossible to ignore the events of the last few days."
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On claims that Olmert's actions may have been questionable but not illegal, the foreign minister said, "The issue isn't only legal, and the test on what is criminal and what isn't is not only the personal business of the prime minister. It is related to the values and norms and their influence on the trust of the public. It infuriates me, the attempt to claim that it is a matter of norms that everyone who enters politics needs to adopt. It's not true and not acceptable to me, and I am coming out against the attempt to impose improper norms on politics."

Livni, who is considered a front-runner to head Kadima should Olmert step down, also called for party primaries.

"I am a big believer in primaries, and believe that we need to involve the public in choosing its leadership, thereby bringing back trust in Kadima," she said.

Livni has been holding talks over the last two days with Kadima minister and Knesset members over advancing the party primaries to replace Olmert.

"We must be leaders, not led," Livni said. "It is impossible to do nothing while Ehud Barak threatens to force early election and is able to lead this process with [Likud chairman Benjamin] Netanyahu and Shas."

Opinion polls show Livni to be the party's most popular politician with the public but she faces stiff competition inside the party. Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter announced Thursday that he would seek the leadership and two other ministers, Shaul Mofaz and Meir Sheetrit, are also expected to join the fray.

Olmert this week had asked his fellow Kadima factions members to let him prove his innocence.

Barak: We could be seeing elections this year

Defense Minister Barak said on Thursday, following Livni's comments, that he surmised elections could be held this year. He again urged Olmert to step down. "The lot has fallen, we must prepare for elections," he said, adding: "The prime minister has to make decisions. Factions have to
make decisions, and if they don't, we will make the decisions for them."

The defense minister called on Labor secretary Eitan Cabel to strike an elections committe, saying: "We are the party of [Yitzhak] Rabin and [David] Ben Gurion. We have the led the state at its most important moments of crisis, and we will return to lead the state."

"The moral issue burning today is not in criminal realm, but in the public realm. I have nothing person against Olmert as a person, but this is a state, and the State of Israel comes before all else," Baral said.

Earlier Thursday, Barak told his Labor Party ministers that early elections appear inevitable in light of the corruption probe against Olmert.

Barak told the ministers that "for the sake of political stability, an alternate government must be established, and headed by one of the members of Kadima, but it is very likely that there will be elections sometime during the coming year."

On Wednesday, Barak convened a press conference during which he publicly called on Olmert to step down from his post, saying that the investigation against him effectively incapacitates him from giving his full attention to day to day government operations.

During Thursday's meeting, which revolved around the previous day's press conference and its implications on Olmert's coalition, the Labor ministers voiced their support of Barak's call. Labor Faction Secretary General Eitan Cabel described the meeting in an interview with Army Radio, saying that "Barak received wall to wall support from all the party ministers. As far as we are concerned, yesterday's message was clear."

White House: Olmert probe may distract peace talks

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino on Thursday acknowledged that the scandal did take some attention away from Bush's goal to broker peace between Palestinians and Israelis before he leaves office.

"There's no doubt that it obviously takes up some oxygen when you're trying to deal with intense and complex negotiations for the whole of the Middle East, especially the Palestinian territories and Israel," Perino told reporters.

"But the president believes that Israeli politics is something the Israelis are going to have to deal with," she said.

A U.S. State Department spokesman said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans to visit Israel "in the not-too-distant future" despite the country's political uncertainty. He gave no date for such a visit.

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      1.   Please don`t embed autostart videos 06:39  |  Rowan 29/05/08
      2.   Vulture ready for carneage 07:39  |  Ulf 29/05/08
      3.   MORE SPIN from the SPIN DOCTORS!!! Actions not words! 12:03  |  Ben 29/05/08
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      7.   At least he didn`t say "Read my Lips" 16:08  |  Zev 29/05/08
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      15.   LAST TIME WE HAD A FEMALE PM THE EGYPTIANS AND SYRIANS ATTACKED!! 17:59  |  Simeon ben Jacob 29/05/08
      16.   Get ready for party primaries perhaps 18:36  |  Joakim 29/05/08
      17.   Livni Still Doesn`t Tell Olmert He Must Step Down Now 18:42  |  Shepherd 29/05/08
      18.   Drama in high places (=tsa-me-ret)... 19:01  |  Esther 29/05/08
      19.   Elections? Baruch Hashem! 19:03  |  bat yam 29/05/08
      20.   Re Shepherd #17 19:08  |  Esther 29/05/08
      21.   Barak Finally Opened His Mouth But Livni Stayed Silenced 19:14  |  Dish It OUt 29/05/08
      22.   Olmert Should Resign 19:21  |  Mike 29/05/08
      23.   Re Dish #21 19:23  |  Esther 29/05/08
      24.   Looks like Mazuz will have to quicken the Pace 19:50  |  Dolly 29/05/08
      25.   DF Barak: toda rabah! - FM Livni 19:53  |  AliciaYasmeen 29/05/08
      26.   If Netanyahu is elected 20:06  |  Dror 29/05/08
      27.   The Question now is .....with a pessimistic outlook 20:08  |  Natasha 29/05/08
      28.   Response to # 23 Ester 20:17  |  Dish It Out 29/05/08
      29.   Response to Ester number 20 20:26  |  Shepherd 29/05/08
      30.   New Elections Now! 20:36  |  The Pathfinder 29/05/08
      31.   Tzipi and the 2 bad "wolves" (Netanyahu/Barak)...... 21:02  |  Swiss (Dino) 29/05/08
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      33.   Re Dish #28... Shepherd #29 21:24  |  Esther 29/05/08
      34.   Israel needs Netanyahu 21:29  |  Malone 29/05/08
      35.   #31...Dino 21:40  |  Malone 29/05/08
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      38.   run away from peace 22:08  |  Leb 29/05/08
      39.   # 15 semen 22:20  |  Realistic Arab 29/05/08
      40.   Sincerly, Stop Torturing the Man, And get ready to start 22:32  |  Simon Mohammed 29/05/08
      41.   LIVNI 00:04  |  azad 30/05/08
      42.   publicity is all 10:06  |  Angel 30/05/08
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