And Then There Were Six...

Our illustrious Prime Minister, Mr. Ehud Olmert has made the headlines once more for the ongoing investigation connected with the envelopes filled with money that he recived from Mr. Telenski.

Since March 2006 Olmert had been investigated for six different accounts of bribery or using his position unlawfully.


1)The house on Cremiuex street. Olmert, as the Minister of Industry, Trade, and Labor, is believed to have a received a $320,000 discount on this purchase in return for helping speed up a real estate project - Investigation Not Closed


2) Once more as the Minister of Industry, Trade, and Labor, it is believed that he interfered with the ministries investment center forcing them to invest in a company called Dimona Select owned by a Ori Meser a friend of Olmert, against the better interest of the office. - Investigation Not Closed


3)Again as the Minister of Industry, Trade, and Labor, it is believed that he promoted friends in the Likud party into the Authority of Small and Meduim Businesses - Investigation Not Closed


4)The Bank Leumi scandal, in which it is believed that during the privatization of the bank Olmert worked as the Interim secretary of Treasury for Sharon and used his connections in the bank to help Frank Liouy an Australian Businessman and friend of Olmerts' - The police wanted to close the investigation while the district attorney said the investigation is not over


5)Recently, Moris Telensky testified that he gave envelopes of money to Olmert, while Olmert does not deny receiving this money he claimed that the money he recieved was through his friend Ori Meser and his secretary Shula Zaken. This money he claims, was to be used for the elections in Jerusalem, and the Likud primaries. - Investigation Not Closed


6) This past weekend, a new suspicion was uncovered. When Olmert worked as the mayor of Jerusalem and Minister of Industry, Trade, and Labor, he is believed to have used governmental funds to fly out of the country. While many organizations requested funds for legitimate fund raising trips, they only received a bill while Olmert and his family actually took the trips. Investigation Not Closed

(Information can be seen on Ynet in Hebrew)


It amazes me that this man is still in office. After his failures in the Lebanon War and more recently the hostage exchange, I would expect him to do the right thing and resign.

If we are to believe even half of the investigations, none of which he has been cleared of yet, this is not an honorable man. The only way we will manage to dethrone him is with a crowbar and a lot of elbow grease.


Is this truly the man we want to be handling negotiations with our enemies? Can a man with no morals truly bring peace, does he really care? Were the numerous errors in judgment since stepping into office truly mistakes or are there other envelopes with money that we no nothing about? Can we trust a man who since moving into politics has been known for putting himself first before the people? These, I feel, are all legitimate questions with which we have no answer.

In my humble opinion this man, whether tried or not, has been involved in numerous shady deals. The type you hope that an upstanding person would shy away from. At home we can only assume that he is unpatriotic having children that no longer live in the country he governs.

Alternatively, try to imagine one of the young Bush girls saying "I no longer want to live in America i want to move to France." This would be considered a devastating political blow. No one would vote for a man whose children shun there own country.
No one that is, except for this country.

As we near what is rumored to be new primary elections we can only hope that our Prime Minister will not manage to make more mistakes before his term is up. That his past catches up to him before he falls back into his old ways. That maybe he will wake up and decide to put the nation before his own interests. We can only hope that since we do not have the will to physically throw him out of office that by the time he leaves there is still an office left.