Should Olmert be given a 'second chance'?
I am sure that many of you heard on Tuesday that former Prime Minister Ehud K. Olmert was acquitted of many of the corruption charges against him. That prompted the Twitter exchange below between me and columnist Shmuel Rosner.
Attila Somfalvi expresses similar sentiments in YNet: One can like Olmert or hate him. One can endorse his political views or object to them. However, it’s not legitimate to persecute him just because he does not fit the conception, and it is not legitimate to use a delusional witness like Morris Talansky and make him the key witness against a serving prime minister.There are a few points that need to be made.
The process of Olmert’s return to the public theater started Tuesday morning and is expected to continue in the near future. It will not be a short process, yet Olmert has no intention of giving up. Not now, with a powerful backwind; not now, when quite a few Israelis from the center of the political spectrum speak longingly about his term as prime minister.
Olmert left the political establishment involuntarily. He embarked on a fight for his good name, and on Tuesday he managed to prove that he is not a liar, a cheat, a corrupt man or a thief. He may be a hedonist, he may be arrogant, and he may be cynical. These are his personal problems. However, he is no criminal, and this is what should matter in the public discourse. He has been acquitted by the court, and as one who was forced to quit Israel’s top political post he is now entitled for another chance.
Had it not been for the Holyland trial that cannot be forgotten, and which is also premised on a problematic witness, Olmert would have returned to the political game Wednesday morning already. Such return, even though it’s still remote, may prompt a dramatic change in the entire political landscape.
Olmert is the opposite of everything that Netanyahu represents in terms of decision-making, in the desire to lead Israel to a diplomatic agreement with the Palestinians, and in the determination and courage he displayed as prime minister. He may deeply shake up the political Center. The former PM possesses what the others (Shelly Yachimovich, Yair Lapid) don’t.
Had he returned tomorrow morning with the acquittal in his hand, everyone currently playing in the centrist theater – ranging from Yair Lapid to Tzipi Livni and from Haim Ramon to Shaul Mofaz – would have paled in comparison to the tornado that currently pushes Olmert to again become legitimate. At the right time and in the right place, with plenty of field work, Olmert may be the only political force that possesses both the experience and ability to weaken the Likud and be a real premiership candidate vis-à-vis Benjamin Netanyahu.
First, yes the State Prosecutor's office is corrupt, although this is only the second highly visible political trial I can recall in which the target was someone on the Left (the last one was Haim Ramon, who got off on lesser charges). The Prosecutor's office tends to persecute politicians from the Right and those 'investigations' and trials drag on for years (Aryeh Deri and Avigdor Lieberman come to mind). They know how to stand down when a politician is useful to their political world view (Ariel Sharon).
But Olmert was useful to the State Prosecutors' world view, so why did they go after him? I believe it was because the public wanted him out (mostly for his handling of the Second Lebanon War, after which he shamelessly stayed on after his partners - Amir "Comrade" Peretz and Dan Halutz - at least had the decency to resign). I believe that the prosecutors felt that this was a chance to show that they also go after politicians on the Left and not just after the Bibi Netanyahu's (remember Nannygate? The Bar-On affair?), Tzachi HaNegbi's, Gila Gamliel's and Rabbi Shlomo Benizri's of the world.
The media is all over the Prosecutors for going after Olmert precisely because Olmert was pursuing policies that reflect their world view when he was tossed out. They don't care about the Prosecutors' credibility: They care about the Leftist political agenda.
What's unsaid in all this is that the Prosecutors' office remains one of the surest routes to a Supreme Court justice's chair. The same corrupt world view that dominates the Prosecutor's office subsequently sits on the bench.
And you wonder why the Right has so little respect for the court?
As to Olmert, assuming that his underlings take the hit for Holyland (as his office manager, Shula Zaken, did in the two matters for which he was acquitted on Tuesday), no one can stop him from running again. Hopefully, with Israelis having seen him for what he really is, Olmert's return will not be successful. I would not bet on that (voting only for a party tends to shield politicians from true accountability here).
Then again, I wouldn't bet on him getting off for the Holyland case either. There are several people on trial there who are not Olmert underlings and who will do what is best for them and not what is best for him (Zaken declined to testify in order to protect Olmert).
What could go wrong?
Labels: corruption, Ehud K. Olmert, Supreme Court
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:45 PM
2 Comments:
Even leaving all of the issues that you brought up aside, I will never trust Olmert after seeing what he was willing to give up for a fake peace deal. He will never have my consent to govern again, even at the lowest level. I don't want him snaking his way up the ranks.
Even leaving all of the issues that you brought up aside, I will never trust Olmert after seeing what he was willing to give up for a fake peace deal. He will never have my consent to govern again, even at the lowest level. I don't want him snaking his way up the ranks.
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