The Winograd report (read it here) is damning — but unsurprising — and 150,00-ish Israelis demonstrated for an end to Olmert’s administration and it looks like his remaining time in office will be shorter than a matzah-bake party. And thus goes the typical story of volatile, short-lived Israeli administrations. For anyone with hope that any regional or Israeli societal goals were going to be met anytime soon, here we go again. In short, some stats by the CECI institute:

• In 59 years of Statehood, Israel has had 31 governments.
• During the past 11 years, with 5 election campaigns, Israel’s political system and its decision- making process was frequently paralyzed due to the fact that the government was in a transitional period.
• The average duration of a Minister’s term is a year. In 11 years, Israel has seen the changing of 7 Ministers of Defense, 8 Ministers of Justice, 9 Ministers of Finance, and 10 Ministers of Foreign Affairs.
• The average duration of the Executive Directors of the Ministries is a year and a half.
• The average duration of a government in Israel is 2 years.

The graphic is interesting food for thought also — Golda Meir holds the record for longest running government at 51 months. Meanwhile, the recent periods of intifada have led to the shortest series of administrations in Israel’s history — proof that Israeli society is more at war with itself over the proper course forward that at any point in it’s history. More on this thought here.