the United States of America should reevaluate its relations with Israel, for all that this implies

Upon hearing the news that Jonathan Pollard's parole had been terminated and he is now free to roam the world with no restrictions, former Prime Minister, and convicted felon, Ehud Olmert commented that Pollard should stay in the United States and not come to Israel.

I have full trust in the judicial system - just in my case they were mistaken.

  --- Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert

HAHA!

I did not fly to the USA in order to meet with Abu Mazen - that is a lie from the scoundrel Netanyahu. I traveled to the USA for a series of speeches, and on the way I met him at his request. Benny Gantz is not my friend and I am not an adviser of his. I will just mention that Netanyahu's friend is the murderer Yasser Arafat

  -- former PM Ehud Olmert, responding to Netanyahu's attacks on him for meeting with Abu mazen, and on Benny Gantz for having him as an adviser.

good retort but Abu Mazen, Mahmoud Abbas, Olmert's buddy, is no less of a murderer than Arafat was.

this is weird that Olmert is putting him out there like this...

Kikar is reporting about a bar mitzva in Bnei Braq that turned into a prison reunion.

A lawyer, a Haredi fellow named Elyashiv Rabin, made a bar mitzva for his son last night. Mazel tov. Much nachas.

According to the article, this lawyer is a powerful guy, formerly an activist for Shas and then for Eli Yishai, but also hobnobbed with the rich and famous. I didn't look it up but it seems he was also somehow involved in the Holyland scandal that ended up sending Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to jail - I think his brother went to jail over it as well and he was one of the witnesses against Olmert.

Either way, this Rabin fellow made a bar mitzva and invited all his buddies from the Maasiyahu prison. Ehud Olmert was there as was former Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, his brother Meir Rabin, and Eli Samchayoff..

There is nothing important here. I just thought it was funny that the guy invited all his prison buddies and turned the bar mitzva into a reunion for them.

I will not run in these elections, though I will consider it in the future. If they have a choice which Ehud they prefer, the public would prefer, they would not prefer the Ehud who is running. [Ehud Barak] coming back won’t make a difference. I will look at politics as an outsider for the time being.

  -- former PM Ehud Olmert, at the Jerusalem Post Conference, regarding speculation that he is considering running again for office. So he is, but not until next time at least. And he thinks Ehud Barak running is a waste of time.

I find it interesting how much of a platform the media has given former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The guy sat in prison for bribery and corruption, yet every day or two the media is asking him his opinion on the state of the country and the upcoming elections.

And now he has the gall to talk about how corrupt PM Benjamin Netanyahu is and that all he talks about is words of incitement against anybody not with him.

Commenting on Netanyahu's style of incitement is not so bad. It happens to be true, and while some may not like his style, that is not corruption or illegal. Olmert commenting on how corrupt Netanyahu is and how he stole from the people is the problem - who made Olmert the moral authority? What gives Ehud Olmert any moral standing to complain about Netanyahu's corruption.

As the Rambam said, one must accept the truth from whatever the source - Olmert might be speaking truth, and Netanyahu is under investigation for all those things and if found guilty will pay for his crimes. My question is why is Olmert being given a platform and he himself should not be acting like a moral authority.

Ehud Olmert gave an interview yesterday in which he had some interesting things to say. I havent seen the full video and full interview, and when I do it will be posted. So far I have only seen clips and excerpts in articles.

Of the various topics discussed in the interview, the part I have found most interesting is his discussion of why he was "taken down" - why he was investigated and put in jail.

Olmert claims that he was very close to making peace with the Palestinians and that is why Adelson and Netanyahu had him brought down. He says he freed himself, I presume he means of his previous opinions, and went where nobody before had been willing to go and was very close to achieving peace because of it.

This goes against the narrative we have heard, from both right wing and left wing sources, about why Olmert failed to make peace despite his willingness to go further than any other prime minister in what he was offering to the Palestinians. The narrative says that he made the offer but the Palestinians did not even get back to him about it - they rejected it by not even responding.

Just because he made an offer does not mean he was close to making peace, considering the Palestinians did not accept the offer, did not make a counter-offer or counter-claim, and did not even bother responding to the offer in any way. It means he offered more, but it does not mean he was close to making peace.

I have heard that basic narrative over the years from both right wing and left wing sources discussing what happened back then. They may argue on defining it and on what it means for the future and for the integrity of the parties involved, but I have never heard a different narrative about what happened.

Yet comes along Olmert, the main player of the time, and says he was close and was brought down because of it. Is the basic narrative we have been fed all these years wrong? Was he really close? Is Olmert simply delusional and was not actually as close as he thinks he was. Was he so caught up in making peace that he did not see, and still does not see, that as interested as he was the Palestinians were not? Did the Palestinians really get back to him and the proposal just needed a little more tweaking?

Minister Yisrael Katz posted this picture of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and called for showing mercy and supporting the early release of Olmert from prison. Olmert was being checked in the hospital after suspicions of a possible heart attack and his feeling weak and ill.

The picture spread like wildfire and opened a debate about Olmert, showing mercy and early release.

I don't want to say he should not be released early just because I don't like him, but do they release any sick, or not well, prisoner early from prison because one should show mercy? if that is a general policy, then go ahead. If it is only being applied for Olmert, then no.

Without getting involved in a discussion of the legal issues of what can and cannot be done regarding changing such plea bargains, as I really do not know much about that, I was surprised to hear that this morning a judge changed the terms of the deal with Olmert, in which he was supposed to go to jail for 18 months, unilaterally.

From what I understand, the judge decided that this is a serious situation and the agreement giving Olmert 18 months jail time is not serious enough to teach anybody a lesson. The judge decided that the deal must be changed, and since the two sides were not successful in coming to an agreement the judge changed it unilaterally.

So, what is the new sentence?

19 months of jail time instead of 18 months.

Really? This is the significant punishment that made it worthwhile to change a plea bargain unilaterally? one additional month will give deterrence and impress on others the seriousness of the crime in a way that 18 months would not have?

I don't know the legal issues involved, but this seems a bit silly. If added deterrence was needed, it seems upping the punishment to 3 years or 5 years would have shown how serious the situation is, in a way that 19 months and 18 months don't. And if it did not warrant such a change, I think adding one month does nothing and should not have been done

Justice Rosen is rude

  -- Yirmi Olmert, brother of former PM Ehud, after Ehud was sentenced to a shorter sentence of just 1.5 years. The Olmerts think Ehud should have been completely vindicated, not just let off with a lighter sentence.

I have no problem with Yirmi Olmert's statement above. I do not think the courts and judges are beyond reproach and criticism. I would like to see if the media and politicians throw a hissy fit about his statement and call it undemocratic and an attempt to dismantle the justice system as they do any time someone in the camp of the right-wing says something critical of the courts...

I used to listen to Avshalom Kor on the radio all the time. I think he is great. He somehow turns a boring topic - language and grammar - into something interesting.

Kor, speaking to students about the Hebrew language, commented that Olmert's greatest crime was not the corruption he was involved in - that's just money, and money wrongly taken can be returned. The real crime, Kor said, is that in the generation of the renewal of Jews in Israel the fact that Olmert built a neighborhood in Jerusalem and named it "Holyland", instead of a proper Hebrew name, is the greatest of his crimes.
source: Srugim

I say book him on that too.

Funnily enough, Kor also said that whenever he hears a Member of Knesset talking on the radio and making grammar mistakes he sends a text message letting him know of the mistake. Kor is a grammar ninja!

When the judge sentenced former PM Ehud Olmert to 6 years in prison, he said that one who takes bribes is  not simply corrupt, but he is a traitor..

Calling him a traitor seems a bit harsh. He is a criminal, he is corrupt, he is immoral.. but a traitor? did he sell State secrets to Iran?

Ironically enough, after Olmert's participation in the Disengagement and then the Gaza and Lebanon II wars, calling Olmert a traitor would have landed a person in jail. Now, for financial and moral crimes, calling him a traitor is legally mandated.

It is both a sad and a happy day when a prime minister (or president or mayor or city councilpeople  or other important dignitary) gets convicted for his crimes.

Sad: it is a shame we have corruption at such high levels. I think it reflects poorly on society.

Happy: nobody is above the law. They might not always be easy to catch or bring proof against, but when it happens, nobody is above the law. We have a president in jail, and now we will have a prime minister in jail. Mayors and city-councilpeople and MKs are already regular features of the jail system...

While I respect the personal pain of each person that was forced to leave his home, I think they pumped up, cultivated and exaggerated the description of the trauma [of the evacuation from Gush Katif], in part in order to make it more difficult for any future process to happen..

  -former PM Ehud Olmert, in an interview about his discussions with Palestinian PM Abbas about evacuating Jews from the West Bank - a deal that never went through..

Olmert's behavior is scandalous and irresponsible. On US soil Olmert chose to praise Abu Mazen and defend him after the hateful and anti-Israel speech he gave in the United Nations, and after he violated the signed agreements with Israel. And at the same time he chose to lash out at Israel and at its leader. Even Olmert's far-reaching offers, those that included even dividing Jerusalem and giving its heart to a foreign ruler - the Palestinians did not agree to because they have no interest in finishing the conflict. 

  -- Minister of Education Gideon Saar, responding to Olmert's comments while visiting the USA about Israel's first response to the Palestinian unilateral move in the UN

Olmert: Time running out for peace deal

  -- YnetNews

I have lost count. Please, someone, remind me how many times this has been said in the past 15 years, since Oslo...


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with 20,000 other people, that is... in the Tel Aviv Nike 10km race last night!

Ehud Olmert ran the 10km... will he also run the longer race to PM?

I am impressed with his time of 55 minutes.. That is about my speed for 10km, give or take a few minutes and depending on the course and the elements..

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