ISRAEL: Will Olmert survive?

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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s troubles continue to lurch onward with no sign of a quick conclusion.
Investigators from the National Fraud Unit raided the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor on Tuesday searching for incriminating documents dated back to Olmert’s time as minister. On Monday, they raided Jerusalem’s city hall, where Olmert served as mayor for 10 years.

The corruption investigation against Olmert centers around allegedly illicit cash payments from Jewish-American millionaire Morris Talansky, but investigators have also questioned two other wealthy Jewish-American businessmen.

Olmert has escaped several corruption investigations before this and never been formally charged. He managed to hang on in 2006 despite plummeting popularity over his government’s handling of the conflict with Hizbollah. through it all he’s cultivated a reputation as the ultimate teflon survivor.

But few seem to be betting on him this time. Recent polls indicate 60 percent of Israelis feel he should resign.

Columnist Sima Kadmon said the investigators appear to have a strong case and the allegations, which involve cash-stuffed envelopes, are particularly tawdry.

‘It appears that part of the shock in the political system and the media is not over the offense, but rather, over its lack of sophistication,’ Kadmon wrote.

—Ashraf Khalil in Jerusalem

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