Exit Music for Olmert: Israeli Prime Minister Faces Calls to Resign

Facing a corruption probe over alleged illicit campaign contributions from a wealthy U.S. businessman, Israeli Prime Minister now faces the most severe calls yet for his resignation.

Already wildly unpopular at home, the embattled PM has seen his chances of political survival deteriorate amidst Labor leader and Defense Minister Ehud Barack's calls that the controlling Kadima Party select a new leader.

Olmert has faced serious political trial before, having been accused on at least two other occasions of financial impropriety, as well as facing sharp criticism for decidedly mishandling Israel's war against the Lebanon-based Islamist group, Hizbollah, in summer 2006.

Many thought that Olmert might scrape his way out of this jam, as well, but Barak leads Kadima's largest coalition partner, the Labor Party, without whose support it would no longer hold a majority in the Knesset. Kadima's loss of control would usher in snap elections, and internal polling suggests that the right-wing Likud Party, led by former PM and defense hawk, Benjamin Netanyahu, would come out on top. Such an outcome would likely cripple the Bush Administration's hopes of brokering a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinian Authority before the president leaves office in January 2009, as Netanyahu has expressed little interest in ceding the crucial territory necessary for a viable two-state solution and also has severe, perhaps insurmountable misgivings, about uprooting Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Some analysts suggest that the most likely scenario, despite Olmert's feisty calls to the contrary, would be for Kadima to oust the current PM and replace him with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who would become Israel's second female head of state, following Golda Meir in the 1970s. This would allow Kadima time to bolster its image in time to retain its advantage in the next general election, which is slated for November 2010.

The best situation for Kadima and the Bush Administration, alike, would be for Olmert to graciously take his cue, see the writing on the wall, and bow out. He cannot oversee negotiations capable of crafting a meaningful deal with PA PResident Mahmoud Abbas, nor can he resurrect his image in time to put Kadima in a victorious posture before the next vote. For Ehud Olmert, the message is clear- your time has come to exit.