Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is taking the reins of the government for the foreseeable future — and could even end up heading the new Kadima Party in the March elections.
Olmert took over Wednesday night, Jan. 4, from his political mentor and close personal friend Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who suffered a massive stroke and a major brain hemorrhage.
This begs the question: Who is Ehud Olmert?
The 60-year-old, right-leaning No. 2 man in Kadima and former Likudnik is well-known to many an Israeli traveler: The former mayor of Jerusalem spent a significant chunk of his time orating before conventions and large visiting groups and welcoming them to “Yerushalayim.”
Like Benjamin Netanyahu, Olmert speaks fluent English and is frequently tapped to appear on American television.
Prior to his 2003 ascent to minister of industry and trade and deputy prime minister, the veteran Israeli politician was perhaps most well-known in world circles for abruptly ending Mayor Teddy Kollek’s 28-year tenure over Jerusalem in 1993.
That was a mean-spirited campaign, marked by an Olmert ad in a Russian-language paper warning that, should Kollek prevail, “300,000 Arabs will have the run of the city and turn into drug peddlers, thieves and rapists.” In the end, only 7 percent of Jerusalem’s eligible Arab population cast a vote, and Olmert won by a substantial margin.
Some of Olmert’s most forceful statements regarded keeping Jerusalem the eternal and undivided capital of the Jewish state — and keeping Yasser Arafat out. In a bizarre 1999 incident, a Jerusalem city councilwoman filed a police complaint against him for refusing to abide by a civic ordinance and transforming his office antechamber into a smoking room.
Among weightier matters, Olmert encouraged American businesses to invest in Jerusalem, and paid keen attention to the city’s educational system and road infrastructure. He took initiative in the development of Jerusalem’s light-rail system and poured millions of shekels into overall mass transportation projects.
Prior to his decade as mayor, Olmert, also a successful lawyer, made his name as a Knesset member and minister, winning a seat in Israel’s parliament in 1973. From 1988 to 1990, he served as minister without portfolio responsible for minority affairs, and he was minister of health from 1990 to 1992.
In 1996, while serving as mayor, he was indicted for fraud and forgery charges stemming from allegations he set up a shell corporation and phony ad agency to handle illegal contributions to Likud in 1988. He was cleared of those charges a year later.
In August of last year, Olmert was elevated to minister of finance, replacing Netanyahu, who had resigned in protest over the Gaza disengagement. Olmert had initially opposed withdrawal from any land captured in the Six-Day War and voted against the Camp David peace accords in 1978, but was a strong supporter of the disengagement.
“I voted against Menachem Begin,” Olmert said. “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.”
The strong support of Sharon’s position was typical in recent days; after battling Sharon and Netanyahu for Likud Party leadership in the 1990s, he was largely perceived as Sharon’s right-hand man for the past couple of years. When Sharon ditched Likud and formed Kadima, Olmert was one of the first on board.
In 2003, Olmert told a Los Altos Hills crowd at Congregation Beth Am that the peace process’ chances of success are “much less than 50 percent.”
The no-nonsense speaker minced no words about the rightness of Israel’s targeted assassination policy. In his Beth Am speech, he applauded the assassination attempt of Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantissi, and suggested the United States was somewhat disingenuous in protesting it.
President Bush “made remarks about being upset about our attempt to eliminate the head of Hamas, but some of us felt he was upset that it was not successful,” he said.
Throughout Israel’s history, a prime minister was replaced by his deputy twice before, in both cases when the prime minister passed away while in office.
The first time was in February 1969, when Prime Minister Levi Eshkol died and was replaced by Vice Prime Minister Yigal Alon.
The second time was on Nov. 4 1995, after Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres stepped in to fill the post immediately after Rabin’s death.