Saturday, August 19. 2006
By Rafi Ginat (Ynet)
The birth of a shady deal took place late Sunday night on April 2, 2006 at the Zahala home of Uri Shani. In that infamous, covert meeting between Ehud Olmert and Amir Peretz - the road to their coalition partnership in the government was paved.
The atmosphere was heavy and rife with suspicion. Peretz wanted the finance ministry, Olmert refused outright. Peretz insisted. Olmert sensed that Peretz had been offended, sure that he was not taking Peretz seriously, that Olmert thought Peretz was inadequate and his capabilities limited.
And then Olmert pulled out a typical Olmert card: he offered Peretz a more important, more respected position then that of the finance minister: He offered him the defense ministry.
Olmert gambled that Peretz would be flattered, that he would think he was appreciated after all, but that he would reject the offer because what an earth does he know about the defense ministry.
That's how Olmert imagined he would solve the ego crises and Peretz' "inferiority complex." From that point, he would set the labor party chairman up with a massive social-economic portfolio, with lots of authority that would obviously meet Peretz' expectation with full satisfaction.
But his gamble backfired; Peretz surprised him and said "yes." He said "yes" although he doesn't have a clue about defense matters. He said a big "yes", because his blinded advisors assured him that the defense ministry portfolio was the surest route to the prime minister's seat.
On Thursday April 27th 2006, the coalition agreement between Kadima and the Labor parties was signed. The next day, which was a Friday, I met Olmert at his office at the Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor - he was still the acting prime minister at the time.
What do you have to say about the agreement? Olmert asked. It has the strong odor of a shady business, I answered. It appeared as though two power hungry individuals had taken over the country. At the top of the pyramid stood a man who got there simply because he was second in line, and the other due to a parade of fraud. Now they were distributing the spoils to their hearts' content.
You know all to well that Peretz is not suited to the post of defense minister. You will always be associated with the stain of his appointment. This blemish will be yours because you initiated it, you offered him the post, and no he didn't extort it from you in tough coalition negotiations.
You didn't want to give him the finance portfolio, not under any circumstances, because you wanted to keep it in your own hands, and so you appointed some Sancho Panza servant who would obey your every order, a loyal bearer of arms such as Avraham Hirchson, for example.
It scares me to think that someone who is inexperienced in defense matters will be in charge of my safety and will inevitably have to make fateful decisions within his position as defense minister.
Three months later?
"Look what fell upon me after three months in the post," Amir Peretz said to me this week. You're to blame; I answered him, because you accepted the post of defense minister when you knew that you weren't suited for the job.
Peretz' appointment is a shady deal that went wrong. He and Olmert are full partners, who are now stuck with the responsibility of this shady deal like a pair of Siamese twins: Olmert because he invented it and Peretz because he eternalized it.
Olmert is guilty because he put the IDF in inexperienced, non professional hands. Peretz is guilty because he said yes because of personal, political and career related motives. He agreed to take the post although he knew it wasn't the right man for the job. He is the wrong man in the wrong place.
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