Likud Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu took aim at Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday evening during a Likud Hanukka candle-lighting ceremony in Or Yehuda, criticizing the prime minister for his passivity in the face of ongoing Kassam rocket attacks. "A leader needs to be an active authority, not a passive one - not [one of] restraint and inaction," Netanyahu declared, calling for Olmert to let the IDF do its job. Earlier in the evening, Olmert announced his decision to reject Defense Minister Amir Peretz's proposal for a limit to Israel's restraint policy, saying that the policy would remain the same despite the Kassam attacks.
Netanyahu appealed to Olmert to "stop the restraint," adding that "this is an absurd situation in which we're trapping ourselves. Free the IDF's hands, let it operate against the rocket fire." Addressing an enthusiastic audience, the Likud leader opined, "Olmert said long ago that we are 'tired of curbing the attacks.' It's not the nation that's tired - Olmert is [the one who is] tired. There is only one thing worse than a nation that has lost faith in its leaders, and that is leaders who have lost faith in their nation." He then called on the prime minister "to vacate the position for a responsible leadership."
