Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni yesterday called on prime minister Ehud Olmert to resign in the wake of a scathing report on his management of the war in Lebanon, but Ms Livni's decision not to resign herself may have handed the embattled premier a lifeline.
"I told the prime minister that I thought to resign was the right thing to do," the foreign minister told reporters after meeting Mr Olmert. "Now is the time to restore the public's trust in the government."
However, in choosing not to resign herself, Ms Livni took the sting out of growing calls in the ruling Kadima party for Mr Olmert to step down.
With no one to rally round, party lawmakers who attended a faction meeting last night expressed support for the prime minister, who emerged from the meeting smiling.
The prime minister was said to be contemplating last night whether to sack his foreign minister, but some aides suggested that that would reignite the revolt against him inside Kadima. Unlike Ms Livni, Avigdor Yitzhaki, the ruling party's parliamentary whip, who also called on the prime minister to "act responsibly and resign", yesterday quit his post.
Mr Olmert, who is hoping that he can weather the scathing war report, which accused him of acting "hastily" and of "a serious failure in exercising judgment, responsibility and prudence" when he launched the military campaign against Hizbullah in Lebanon last summer, reiterated yesterday that resignation was not an option.
"I suggest that all those who are in a hurry to take advantage of this report and make political gain slow down," he said at a special cabinet meeting yesterday morning.
Ms Livni, who is a popular public figure and who has emerged largely untainted from the war report, insisted that she was "not working to topple the prime minister", but she did say that she planned to challenge for leadership of the party. Kadima could replace Mr Olmert with Ms Livni without new elections being held as the prime minister is not directly elected but usually is the head of the largest faction in parliament.
Mr Olmert's position, though, remains precarious. His popularity ratings are catastrophic and opinion polls conducted since the interim findings of the war report were released on Monday show that between 65 and 73 per cent of the public want him to go.