Ruth King

Israel’s usually fractious media exhibits a curious restraint when it comes to investigating Ehud Olmert, and the Israeli public, normally addicted to scandal and gossip about its leaders, is passive and reluctant to probe any of the rumors and suggestions of impropriety that have emerged about their new Prime Minister. In Italy there is a code of “Omerta” that prohibits speaking or divulging information about certain people and their activities. In Israel, I call this conspiracy of silence the code of “Olmerta.”

Where are the questions about Olmert’s military service? According to some accounts Olmert never served because of illness. If so, what illness? A Reuters report on March 22, 2006 states “Olmert was denied his dream of serving as an army commando due to orthopedic problems.” Well, was it a herniated disc, a spinal column injury or bunions?

Differing accounts, including semi official bios, claim he was a military press correspondent, an infantry officer in the Golani Brigades and a reporter for the Israeli army journal. So, which was it? The American media was obsessed with the military records of William Clinton and George Bush. After all, Israel’s citizen army conscripts all citizens, and the public deserves to know, but “Olmerta” is the rule.

Then there are the rumors of serious and serial corruption: possibly illegal political appointments of cronies; possible bribery; hints of murky dealings alleging as minister he used fictitious arbitration, enabling the dishonest extraction of 6.2 million shekels from the Betar soccer team; Olmert’s sale of his home for $2.7 million to American billionaire Danny Abraham, and the peculiar arrangement whereby Olmert and his wife Aliza can remain living in the house for several years to come, paying below market rent. Oh yes, I almost forgot, Mr. S. Daniel Abraham is an ardent pacifist and contributed $193,000 shekels to Olmert’s campaign.

This is not to say there is irrefutable evidence of malfeasance, but in 1977 Rabin had to resign as prime minister and party leader after it became known that his wife had violated the regulations on currencies, by having a bank account in the USA. The Israeli media skewered the Prime Minister who was then thought of as hawkish. In October of 1999 police aggressively searched the Netanyahu home, alleging that after leaving office Bibi and his wife kept government belongings, including (gulp!) a gold letter opener from US Vice President Al Gore. The media reported this and allegations of fraud, never proven, in hourly communiqués and editorials. The public could not get enough of it.

That same year the late President Ezer Weizman, a famed combat hero, was reputed to have taken large contributions from businessmen without reporting it to the proper authorities. Although he was never prosecuted the media hounded him and he resigned from office. But when it comes to a real investigation of Ehud….. it’s “Olmerta”.

Then there is the question of his family. His pretty wife has been a long time member of Peace Now, an organization which, from its inception, favored a return to the 1949 lines including Jerusalem. So, while he was an admittedly good mayor of Jerusalem, did his wife agree to his ruling only West Jerusalem? Did his support of the holy shrines in old Jerusalem put him in the dog house? To quote his dear friend Moshe Amirav : "He has a very open approach. He can see things from the other side. If he can see things through the eyes of his wife, he can also see things through the eyes of Hamas." Well, that’s a valid point his friend inadvertently made.

His children have gone way beyond Peace Now…..two of them support frankly seditious organizations. The Olmerts' daughter Danna is a member of Machsom Watch, a group of Israeli women who monitor checkpoints for human rights abuses and often confront Israeli soldiers on behalf of Palestinians. Their website lists dreadful behavior by Israeli soldiers, often denied by the IDF. Oh, by the way, they don’t comment on the number of terrorist acts that have been aborted by the crossing points.

The Olmerts' son Shaul completed his military service, signed a petition of Yesh G'vul, a group of Israeli Defense Force soldiers who refuse to serve in the occupied territories, and now lives in New York. Yesh G’vul’s latest brochure tries to convince high school students not to join the Israeli army and offers a flat $750(US) a month for anyone who is jailed for desertion from the IDF. The Olmerts’ son Ariel dodged military service altogether and is studying French literature at the Sorbonne in Paris.

When Chelsea Clinton accompanied her mother on a trip to Africa and spoke about the drug problems and cynicism that afflict American teenagers, many newspapers scolded her for the impropriety of criticizing the nation where her father is President. Nonetheless, the Israeli media with the notable exception of Jerusalem Post columnist Sarah Honig, treathe outrageous behavior of the Olmert children with typical “Olmerta.”

None of Olmert’s election posters included his family. Instead he was shown in carefully doctored photos with the spectral face of Ariel Sharon behind him. A member of Israel’s media told me that the curious lack of scrutiny exists because Olmert will carry on the legacy of Sharon. This is laughable because the Israeli media reviled Sharon the patriot and general. It is his legacy as wholesale salesman and liquidator of Israel that Olmert is expected to carry on.

No questions asked and no leads followed. Instead the “heir” of Sharon, the accidental Prime Minister elect, is given a free pass by the fraternity of bloodhounds in the Israeli media. They are so intent on not hampering his preemptive surrender of Israel’s heartland, patrimony and sovereignty that they have become scrupulous observers of the Code of Olmerta.