Ehud Olmert (born
September 30,
1945 in
Binyamina,
Israel) is Israel's Acting Prime Minister.
He served as the
Deputy Prime Minister, the Finance Minister of the
State of Israel and as Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor, as well as being the Minister responsible for the Israel Lands Administration, and the
Israel Broadcasting Authority. He is currently a member of
Ariel Sharon's
Kadima party.
On
January 4,
2006, prime ministerial powers were transferred to Olmert after
Ariel Sharon suffered a massive Hemorrhagic stroke.
[1]Ehud Olmert was elected as a member of the sixteenth
Knesset in January
2003. He served as the head of the election campaign for the
Likud Party in the elections, and subsequently was the chief negotiator of the coalition agreement. From 2003-2004, he also served as Minister of Communications.
Born in Israel, Ehud Olmert is a graduate of the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem with degrees in
Psychology,
Philosophy and
Law. He has had his own successful
law practice in Israel.
Olmert was first elected to the Knesset in
1973 at the age of twenty-eight and was re-elected seven consecutive times. He served as Minister of Minorities (
1988-
1990) and as Minister of Health (
1990-
1992). Between the years
1981-
1988, he was a member of the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee and has also served on the Finance, Education and Defense Budget Committees.
From
1993 to
2003, Ehud Olmert served for two terms of office as Mayor of
Jerusalem, during which time he devoted himself to the initiation and advancement of major projects in the city, the development and improvement of the education system and the development of road infrastructure. He also spearheaded the development of the
light rail system in Jerusalem and the investment of millions of
shekels in the development of
mass transportation options for the City.
On
August 7,
2005, Olmert was appointed as acting
Finance Minister of Israel, replacing
Benjamin Netanyahu, who had resigned in
protest against the
planned Israeli withdrawal from the
Gaza Strip.
[2],
[3] Olmert, who had originally opposed withdrawing from land captured in the
Middle East War of 1967, and who had voted against the
Camp David Peace Accords in
1978, is a vocal supporter of the Gaza Pullout. "I voted against Menachem Begin," Olmert said in after his appointment. "I told him it was a historic mistake, how dangerous it would be, and so on and so on. Now I am sorry he is not alive for me to be able to publicly recognize his wisdom and my mistake. He was right and I was wrong. Thank God we pulled out of the Sinai."
Ideology and controversy
Ehud Olmert was a member of the
Likud Party's dynasty group (those whose parents played a part in the establishment of the Revisionist Zionism movement of
Vladimir Jabotinsky, or who grew up during the early years of the State of Israel under its ideology). Other members of this category (which has no connection to where they stand on the divisions within the Likud today) include former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (son of scholar
Ben-Zion Netanyahu), former Knesset Member
Benny Begin (son of Prime Minister
Menachem Begin; whose views were considerably more extreme than his father's, and caused him to form the splinter New Herut Party), Justice Minister
Tzipi Livni (daughter of
Irgun operative and Likud predecessor Herut Party Knesset Member Eitan Livni), and
Omri Sharon (son of current PM
Ariel Sharon). However, Olmert, like several others, has joined PM
Ariel Sharon in his new centrist party,
Kadima.
Olmert's childhood, typical of the upringing in that group, included membership in the
Beitar Youth Organization, and dealing with the fact that his parents were often blacklisted and discriminated against due to their affiliation with the opposition to the long-ruling
Mapai party. However, by the
1970s this was proving less detrimental to one's career as it was in the
1950s, and Olmert succeeded in opening a successful law partnership in Jerusalem.
Olmert's opponents both inside and outside of the Likud point to a long record of opportunism. In the
1970s he was connected to a libel scandal involving well-known Jerusalem businessmen, organized crime, and retired General
Rechavam Ze'evi. This often forgotten affair, well documented in investigative journalist
Aryeh Avneri's Ha'tvusa in
1992, was only the first in a number of shady misadventures in Olmert's career. During the run-up to the Ze'evi libel suit, Olmert allegedly requested funds from the Likud Treasury for his defense fund, although his lawyers were from his own law firm, which would effectively constitute bribery.
All accusations against Olmert were eventually settled out of court, a pattern that followed through his involvement in the
Herzlia Marina construction investigation, and various others that never led to any definite conclusions, and therefore were dropped. What is today almost beyond debate was that during his terms as mayor Olmert hired numerous Likud activists to positions in the Jerusalem Municipality. However, numerous cases of illegal housing construction both by Arab and Jewish firms continued throughout Olmert's term, and the phenomenon has plagued the city to this day.
One of the subjects that has damaged Olmert's standing among a large percentage of Likud supporters, far more than the generally tolerated political appointments, was his change of heart in regard to territorial concessions.
During PM
Ariel Sharon's second term, Olmert was deputy prime minister and widely viewed as Sharon's right hand man. He was a vocal supporter of government policy and was the most important ally of Sharon during the September 2005 Withdrawal from Gaza. When Sharon announced his leaving the Likud and the formation of a new party,
Kadima, Olmert was one of the first to join him.
Mr. Olmert is married and the father of four. He has for decades been a devoted fan and has worked on behalf of the
Beitar Jerusalem football club.