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Last update - 18:25 28/05/2008 Corruption probe poll: 70% of Israelis don't believe Olmert By Yossi Verter, Haaretz Correspondent Tags: Morris Talansky, Ehud Olmert Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has lost the trust of his party and more importantly, the public's trust, in the latest corruption affair under which he is being investigated. In a survey conducted Tuesday night, after key witness Morris Talansky delivered his testimony, 70 percent of those polled said they do not believe Olmert's version that the money he received from the American businessman went only for his election campaigns. What is even worse for him, 51 percent of his own party's voters don't believe him either. Advertisement Olmert's lawyers are right: According to the law, it is not at all clear whether there is something illegal in Olmert's dealings with his own private bank, the "Talansky Bank." It is certainly worth waiting for the cross examination on July 17. It is likely to reveal contradictions about the sums of money, or to refute a story or two like the luxurious family vacation in Italy, which Olmert's attorneys claim never happened. But no cross examination, no matter how brilliant and effective it may be, will save the politician Ehud Olmert. It will not polish his image nor remove the stench rising from the description of his relationship with Talansky. It will never return Olmert to the days before the investigation. Publicly, Olmert is finished. There is no going back. Talansky's initial testimony Tuesday in the Jerusalem District Court will forever hover like a toxic cloud over the prime minster, wherever he goes - until he finally goes. That is the small difference between a newspaper headline and testimony under oath in court. The suspicions against Ariel Sharon in the Greek Island and Cyril Kern affairs were no less serious, maybe even more so. But the Sharon investigations never reached the courtroom. And, in any case, people were willing to forgive Sharon for anything. His heir, Olmert, is now considered politically dead. In the political arena and in his party, Kadima, he no longer counts. So what are they counting? The money hidden in the envelopes that he took, according to Talansky, well after the primary elections ended. The story that unfolded Tuesday in the Jerusalem courtroom was a guide to the good life, Olmert-style: luxury suites, fountain pens, cigars, first-class flights and the fixer who paid for it all. In the best possible light, Olmert is a crass hedonist. In the worst, there are various crimes hiding inside the story, which the prosecution will decide on, when it is ready. No one was ever forced out of office for hedonism, but what makes the situation unbearable is the cash, the green bills that passed from Talansky to Olmert for such a long time without being reported, without accounting and without a trace - except for what was written in Shula Zaken's diaries. It is hard to say whether Tuesday's testimony will have immediate political effects. It is likely that it won't. Ehud Barak does not intend to quit the government in the foreseeable future, and Tzipi Livni will not quit. They will leave Olmert twisting in the wind. Olmert's confidantes asked Tuesday what was the difference between his case and that of Benjamin Netanyahu's pleasure trips to London and Paris, which were also paid for with huge sums by various millionaires. Why, asked Olmert's friends, did Bibi get out of it cheaply, while Olmert is being pursued by the prosecution? Sooner or later, when Olmert will be a former prime minister, he will sit at home and wonder why he needed all this disgusting trouble. But it will be too late. Related articles: Barak mulls ultimatum to Olmert: Resign or agree to early elections Talansky: Olmert got $150,000 from me, introduced me to tycoons Bookmark to del.icio.us   Fight club Jerusalem camera catches brutal attack by Jewish teens on Arab youths. Unbrotherly behavior Rights group: Palestinian governments violate human rights in quest for control.   1.   What Yossi is saying is that Olmert will be happy to hear that: 12:10  |  S 28/05/08   2.   Other poll: 90% believe in Tooth Fairy 12:35  |  dyinglikeflies 28/05/08   3.   What`s worse: 49% of Kadima Voters DO Believe Him 13:29  |  Ovadiah ben Avraham 28/05/08   4.   A shnorrer 13:36  |  Hava 28/05/08   5.   "HaAretz poll is nonsense ! 14:17  |  redmike 28/05/08   6.   We are such a bunch of unbelievers 14:20  |  David 28/05/08   7.   Who wants get rid of Olmer? 14:21  |  Keops 28/05/08   8.   Keops and conspiracy theories 14:36  |  AliciaYasmeen 28/05/08   9.   "WHO wants to get rid of Olmert". The People of Israel 14:37  |  AliciaYasmeen 28/05/08   10.   Kudus to Haaretz 14:38  |  Buzaglow 28/05/08   11.   #7 14:44  |  Keops 28/05/08   12.   Ovadiah ben Avraham #3 The 49% don`t believe him either! 14:50  |  S 28/05/08   13.   OLMERT 14:52  |  Zyskandar A Jaimot 28/05/08   14.   #2: Great, Now There is Coffee All Over My Monitor 14:56  |  Ovadiah ben Avraham 28/05/08   15.   ILLEGAL: Undeclared Income, Money Laundering, Election Fraud 15:14  |  Ovadiah ben Avraham 28/05/08   16.   MUCH MUCH MORE THEN 70%!! 15:15  |  OLMERT=CRIMINAL 28/05/08   17.   NOTICE HOW BIBI DOESNT SAY A WORD.... 15:25  |  Gabriel 28/05/08   18.   I am probably one of the few people who do believe Olmert. 16:18  |  I believe, I believe 28/05/08   19.   BUSH: I BELIEVE MR OLMERT IS AN HONEST MAN...LOL 16:48  |  gabriel 28/05/08   20.   No worse than other politicians who care more about $s than Jews 16:59  |  Allon 28/05/08   21.   wht did u do with my 5000$? 17:15  |  ELLIOT SPITZER 28/05/08   22.   Please..please to those who will come after Olmert. 17:24  |  Akram Zekaria 28/05/08   23.   FLASH NEWS! 18:13  |  THE TEACHER/INSTRUCT 28/05/08   24.   Honesty 18:22  |  Billy Joel 28/05/08   25.   EXTREMELY disconcerting... 18:27  |  Raphael 28/05/08   26.   70% of Israeli`s don`t believe Olmert 18:36  |  Eli 28/05/08   27.   70% of Israelis don`t believe Olmert....... Nonsense! 19:19  |  Dolly 28/05/08

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