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We are all Olmert's partners By Israel Harel Tags: Gidi Weitz, Yoav Yitzhak  Ehud Olmert is on his way home. But the affairs for which he will have to go back to his private residence on 29 November Street are not, and for a long time have not been, his personal affairs. They are the affairs of us all. When we did not protest against them - after all, we have known for years about some of the affairs involving luxury goods, the Likud party accounts, the Industry and Trade Ministry and real estate - and we permitted him to progress up the ladder to the apex of government, we were accessories. All those who joined him on the Kadima list for the Knesset; all those who joined his senior staff and are not leaving now; all the well-known people, including academics, journalists and tycoons who joined his entourage for a holiday, as if he were the president of the United States; all those who turned their eyes away from his conduct and deeds - politicians, lawyers, senior police officers and media representatives - they are all part of Olmertism. The journalists Gidi Weitz, Yoav Yitzhak and Mordechai Gilat have, after all, been writing for years, and in great detail, about his bad morals. However, all those who crowded around him, and a very big crowd they were, not only did not feel disgusted by him, they even supported him. Olmert was saved by the skin of his teeth from being brought to trial, time after time, and from the first moment, he was no longer fit, from the public point of view, to be in the government despite the "lack of evidence." Very few, if any, rose up and said: It is not the criminal aspect that is the point but rather the public and moral aspects. People who are able serially to survive "for of lack of evidence" are disqualified from being at the helm of political life in Israel. Because we allowed him, and others like him, like Ariel Sharon, to continue to lead the public, we proved what our norms were. But that is not all; from the moment that Olmert changed his political tune, he was upgraded - even pushed - to the top posts. Every involved citizen - tens of thousands of Israelis who establish, influence and formulate public opinion belong to this category - knew who Olmert was. This includes Ehud Barak and Ami Ayalon. Not one of them rose up, until yesterday, and said: This man is disqualified. No one had blinded them with dazzling lights. They chose to close their eyes. And even today, after what Morris Talansky has said, many of them continue to stubbornly say it is not criminal. If even Talansky's testimony develops into another affair of "lack of evidence," then with regard to applying the law in cases where top public officials have behaved corruptly - we well recall the scandalous exemption that Sharon and Olmert received from the attorney general over the Greek island affair - Israel might begin to resemble a banana republic. Advertisement Olmert is not a hollow man, as David Grossman accused him of being last year. (Where is his voice being heard, together with the other teachers and rabbis of literature, the knights of morals, at these times? Are they, like Olmert's lawyers, waiting only for the criminal evidence?) Olmert is a fully fledged man. The material that fills him brought him to where he is. And the Israelis who are waiting - with the writers, the rabbis, the retired judges, the journalists, the organizations that fight for social or political justice - for criminal evidence show in this way what their morals are with regard to public figures. As if receiving envelopes containing cash, without giving receipts, without noting them down, without reporting the receipt of cash and for whom it is intended, are not acts that disqualify a person from the heavy responsibility of serving as prime minister. Every additional day that this man remains in his post, every additional day that the public waits to be provided criminal proof, is a day of national embarrassment and shame. Every day that we do not go out and demonstrate for him to be deposed, is one more day in which we resign ourselves to unacceptable norms, and we do not root out the evil from our midst. Bookmark to del.icio.us   His Majesty's envoy Report: Bahraini king taps Jewish woman lawmaker as envoy to U.S. Light unto the nations After five months of suspense, the hoopoe is crowned Israel's state bird.   1.   Where are the rallies? where are the protests? 11:53  |  Dror 29/05/08   2.   In short :AG Mazuz has been partner in crime of Sharon&Olmert 13:29  |  Absolute Sweden 29/05/08   3.   Incontrovertible Proof that Olmer Guilty - The Right 14:50  |  Jay A Friedman 29/05/08   4.   Incontrovertible Proof that Olmert is NOT Guilty- the Left 14:52  |  Jay A Friedman 29/05/08   5.   "Better a Slightly Corrupt Man Than an Ideologue" 15:04  |  Ovadiah ben Avraham 29/05/08   6.   let the new era begin the post olmert livni barak era!! 18:05  |  new leaders 29/05/08   7.   Israeli`s are all Olmerts Partners. They didn`t force Olmert Out 19:06  |  Shepherd 29/05/08   8.   Olmert 19:18  |  edwin hoffenberg 29/05/08   9.   WE ARE ALL PARTNERS 19:31  |  ELI GOLD 29/05/08   10.   Guilt & Impunity 19:32  |  Abir 29/05/08   11.   WE ARE OLMERTS PARTNERS 19:37  |  ELI GOLD 29/05/08   12.   Israel is not a banana republic 20:32  |  Boris 29/05/08   13.   We are all Olmert`s partners 20:49  |  Lou Dolin 29/05/08   14.   Why Can`t Olmert be an Etrog? 21:23  |  Mark 29/05/08   15.   Sorry, not me 21:34  |  Mark 29/05/08   16.   Partners! 23:02  |  P. J. Casey 29/05/08

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