Israeli leaders pounded by resignation calls

The increasing pressure on Israel's elected officials is linked to a series of separate events that all happened on the same day -- Wednesday, July 12:

- The Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah captured two soldiers, killed eight others and Israel went to war in Lebanon.

- The attorney general decided to open a police investigation into allegations that President Moshe Katsav sexually harassed a woman employee.

- Justice Minister Haim Ramon attended a Tel Aviv bash and allegedly kissed a woman soldier against her will, sparking fresh sex allegations and ultimately forcing his resignation this week.

After a month, the war failed to achieve its aims of stopping Hezbollah rocket attacks, which killed 41 Israelis, or freeing the two soldiers.

Just 113 days since Prime Minister Ehud Olmert took office promising to redraw Israel's borders with the Palestinians amid the optimism of the Gaza Strip pullout, his government's approval ratings have sunk to an all-time low.

And never before have Israeli leaders been so discredited by failure and sexual impropriety, to an extent that Katsav reportedly faces even rape accusations.

"The crisis is so serious that the government seems ultimately doomed," political science professor Shlomo Avineri told AFP.

Although he believes the crisis is not just because of the war, it translates into "a lack of confidence in the entire political class" thanks to the accumulating scandals, the former director of the foreign ministry said.