Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Ehud Barak called for the resignation of Ehud Olmert on allegations of corruption. Or else, he will do something sometime real soon. This is the kind of threat the Israeli left usually reserves for the Hamas leadership and it had the same effect. Flunkies in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) slammed the Defense Minister for meddling in the ‘internal affairs’ of the Kadima party.

The entire Israeli leadership is so deeply flawed that nothing is likely to change. Both Kadima and Labor are so desperate to cling to power that they would rather watch the ship sink than give up the rudder. Each party is delusional enough to believe that it is the only one capable of steering the ship of state to the safe harbor of peace by yielding just the right combination of concessions to the Gaza terrorists. Lots of Messiah wannabes hold seats in the Knesset. All crave power; none dream of victory.

Many Israelis feel like they are surrounded by cannibals and their leaders are telling them to calm down. “Don’t worry, look, the nice people are boiling a big pot of water to make us dinner,” the leaders say. No wonder sane Israelis are running scared.

A source in Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office sharply criticized Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s call that Olmert resign following the investigations against him.

“Barak’s call [to Olmert] is a cynical attempt to control Kadima’s agenda,” a source in Olmert’s office said. “He is not the one to determine who will be at the head of Kadima and won’t.”

“Since the beginning of the investigation [against Olmert] and the prime minister’s facing up to the public and announcing his innocence nothing has changed.”

The source emphasized that the testimony given by New York financier Morris Talansky on Tuesday, who said he has given Olmert $150,000 of his own money, did not change the prime minister’s situation. “Calling on the prime minister to resign on the basis of one man’s one-sided testimony is a flawed norm. Barak’s media trick served only the press’ lust for drama,” the source said.

“Barak, from the marble-tiled Akirov Tower and with his own problematic past should not preach morals to us,” the source added, hinting at Barak’s upscale Tel Aviv residence and investigations carried out in the past regarding irregularities in Barak’s campaign funds when he himself was running for prime minister.

Earlier on Wednesday, Barak called on Olmert to step down due to the illicit funding investigation against him.