Israel Matzav

A worthy successor

Israel Matzav

I really hope you're not all being sucked in by Ehud Olmert. Ehud Olmert is A worthy successor to Ariel Sharon - but not for the reasons espoused by the leftist Israeli media and the 'peace camp.' This is an article that somehow made it into Al-Ard (HaAretz)....

Power, said Henry Kissinger, is the ultimate aphrodisiac. Kissinger used this to explain why an expert - with a thick German accent - in the convoluted nuances of nuclear deterrence became an object of desire for a Hollywood blonde. Power, one can add upon consideration of Israeli politics, is also the best antiseptic. Taking the reins of power retroactively cleans all the stains and smells along the way.

The current model for this is Ehud Olmert, the frequency of whose meetings with the police rivaled that of a Civil Guard volunteer. Olmert, in keeping with the hymns of praise from his supporters, is indeed a worthy successor to Ariel Sharon. Both have the tendency to enter the thicket of criminal suspicions, as well as the ability to worm their way out of these suspicions even if they are smeared with harsh words that would have caused a sensitive citizen of good conscience to shut himself up in his home - but did not interfere with them climbing onward and upward. When the dry facts, under their signature, spoke against them, they both whipped out a similar argument from the family of the "psychological element" that is necessary for conviction: Those who were working under them - Omri Sharon, the Likud treasury people - had hidden their deceptions from them.

This claim, of not knowing what is going on in the area for which the individual is responsible, has to be a two-edged sword that cuts through the criminal rope around the necks at the price of a fatal public stabbing. How is anyone who does not manage to have control of the finances of an election campaign - with the excuse of being engaged in campaigning and organizing and trips - going to run a country? How is anyone whose aides, officials or sons have lured him into signing false authorizations going to oversee Israel Defense Forces generals and Finance Ministry budget managers?

The indictment, "The State of Israel versus Ehud Olmert," Case 329/96, ended in 1997 with an acquittal. Judge Oded Mudrik decided to purify Olmert's deeds. "The defendant signed a declaration that contains false information," determined Mudrik, but "it was not proven that he was aware of the falsehood or turned a blind eye to it." [Sounds like something straight out of 60 Minutes, doesn't it? CiJ]

... Along with the acquittal, Judge Mudrik made the following comments about Olmert that those who are being asked to vote for him should keep in mind: "Olmert boasted that there had been scrupulous review on his part"; "His testimony in the court was refuted in a number of ways, hidden from the eye and contradicted by the facts"; "There was no close supervision" and therefore "he did not see the various elements of the activities passing before him one by one"; and "He was exceedingly negligent in fulfilling his obligations."

Read it all!

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:39 PM