Tel-Chai Nation

New polls show that the Israeli public is fed up with Ehud Olmert, who sure doesn't seem too happy in the photo. If anybody here can caption it, have fun and entertain yourselves in doing so! Now, what have we here:

A poll commissioned by Dahaf published on Friday in the Yedioth Ahronot daily shows that 63 percent of Israelis feel that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert failed in managing the war in Lebanon and should resign. Only 29 percent believe the prime minister is fit to continue leading the country.

About 74 percent of those polled said Defense Minister Amir Peretz mishandled the war and should resign his post.

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Dan Halutz faired only slightly better, with 54 percent saying he should resign over the army's failures, while 38 percent said he should keep his post.

[...]

Twenty-seven percent of those polled by Dahaf said they support early elections as opposed to 20 percent who said Olmert should form a national unit government. Only 19 percent said the government should stay in its current formation.

Netanyahu now favorite for PM as public lurches right
Sixteen percent of respondents said Labor should be ousted of the government to make way for a right-leaning party, while 14 percent said Labor should stay but the coalition should be broadened to include right-wing coalition partners.

The Dahaf poll showed that should elections be held today, the conservative Likud would gain 20 parliament seats, up from the 12 seats it currently holds. The leading Kadima party would plunge from 29 to 17 seats, while the left-wing Labor party would drop from 19 to 11 Knesset seats if elections were held today. Support for right-wing rivals Israel Our Home, led by Avigdor Lieberman, increased sharply, with the poll showing the party would gain 17 seats in elections, up from 11 seats now.

Asked if Olmert and Netanyahu were the only two contestants in the election race, 45 percent said they'd vote for the latter and 24 percent for the former.

The poll showed that if elections were held today Netanyahu would earn the support of 22 percent of voters, followed by Avigdor Lieberman with 18 percent and Shimon Peres with 12 percent.

Olmert earned a mere 12 percent in projected election results.

Given that Peres is already very old, that's one more reason why the public doesn't see him as a very viable candidate.

IMO, despite what's told here, Amir Peretz is not really at fault for mishandling the war from his end; it's Olmert's fault for holding back the army considerably at his own. All the same, Peretz is not very worthy as a minister himself, and Labor would best show him the door. I mean, hey, he's the one who wrecked the Israeli workers union, now isn't he?

On another note, a respected political analyst said that Tzipi Livni is unfit to be foreign minister, and has already caused a lot of damage in that position. She too must go, the faster the better.

Update: more on this at Hot Air.

Also available at Basil's Blog, bRight and Early, Jo's Cafe, Point Five, Samantha Burns.