Israel: The Man in the Background

Israel's fight against Hezbollah is not going particularly well at the moment. As such, sentiment in Israel is beginning to turn against the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The person who has the most to gain from the government's problems — Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu — has remained strangely silent. While the Olmert government will probably still launch a major ground offensive toward the Litani River and into the Bekaa Valley, Netanyahu remains in the background, ready to take advantage of the conflict's end — whether that ending is a success or failure.