Ehud Olmert: An ambitious career that collapsed in scandal

Dogged by allegations of corruption, Ehud Olmert will bring his undistinguished premiership to an end after less than two-and-a-half years in office.

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What's next for Kadima - and Israel?

Politically, Ehud Olmert has been a dead man walking for months. Having survived the damaging fallout of the Second Lebanon War and astonishingly dismal approval ratings, it has been the latest corruption allegations that precipitated his terminal decline.

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Case against Olmert ‘very strong’ after key witness gives evidence

Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz must now decide whether to indict Prime Minister Ehud Olmert over the alleged bribes he received from Morris Talansky, after the American fundraiser ended five days in the dock with his version of events intact.

Despite appearing at times shaken and confused during the cross-examination, the main facts of his testimony have not been changed. Mr Olmert allegedly received money through Mr Talansky on at least three separate occasions and he also covered the expenses of Mr Olmert and his wife’s stay in Washington in October 2005.

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Olmert’s ‘last chance’ to save his future

The cross-examination of key witness Morris Talansky that began yesterday (Thursday) in Jerusalem and will continue into next week is expected to be Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s last chance to save his political future.

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Paris welcomes Assad — but Syrian leader snubs Olmert

Syrian leader Bashar Assad was a controversial guest of honour at France’s Bastille Day celebrations — and snubbed his fellow guest, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Mr Assad was among more than 40 heads of state at Sunday’s launch of the Union for the Mediterranean, a French initiative to bring together the 27 states of the EU with the Balkans and their Arab neighbours.

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Convert row: US confused

The United Jewish Communities in America has asked Israeli premier Ehud Olmert to intervene in a conversion row. The group appealed after Israel’s higher rabbinical court suggested up to 15,000 conversions might be revoked.

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Israel seeks strike on Iran after missile test

Israel is hoping that the ballistic missile test by Iran on Wednesday will help to persuade the United States to give it the “green light” to attack the country’s nuclear installations, according to an Israeli diplomatic source.

The Shihab-3 rocket was launched as part of a nine-missile salvo during an exercise. The move was condemned by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, as well as presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain.

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Ceasefire emboldens Hamas to raise stakes

The fragile Gaza ceasefire and the prisoner deal with Hizbollah have emboldened Hamas to demand a larger number of Palestinian prisoners in return for the captured Israeli soldier Sergeant Gilad Shalit.

Sporadic firings on Israel from the Gaza Strip have not caused the ceasefire to break down, despite at least four occasions on which Palestinians have fired mortars and Kassam missiles since the ceasefire began two weeks ago.

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Diaspora ‘crisis’ plan

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced a radical rethink of policy in Israel-diaspora relations this week, warning that “a serious crisis” of assimilation and alienation faces world Jewry.

In the keynote speech to the Jewish Agency’s board of governors in Jerusalem, Mr Olmert acknowledged that “the era of mass aliyah from countries of distress has come to a close”.

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Family fury as Olmert zig-zags on prisoner swap

The Israeli cabinet is to vote on Sunday on the prisoner exchange with Hizbollah, after a week in which Prime Minister Ehud Olmert twice changed his mind on the deal by which Israel is to receive two soldiers in return for handing over five Lebanese prisoners.

The prisoner swap seemed imminent last week after Israeli and Lebanese sources both confirmed that a deal had been brokered by the German government.

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