Israeli Premier Has Prostate Cancer

As a rule, world statesmen keep it a secret when they fall ill. Maybe they're afraid that any sign of weakness, and their rivals will draw knives. Or that sickness might be seen to impair their already dicey judgment. Not so Ehud Olmert, Prime Minister of Israel.

When a routine medical exam revealed that Olmert, 62, had prostate cancer, he took the unusual step of going public. At a press conference on Monday, Olmert, looked dapper in a blue suit and vivid pink tie (tell me, please, that his spin doctors didn't dressed him that way to convey that he was in the "pink" of good health). Before turning over the mike to his doctors, he declared, "I will be able to fulfill duties fully before my treatment and hours afterward. My doctors told me that I have full chances of recovery."

That will be good news to the White House. Condi has Olmert doing gymnastics so that he might bend a little towards the Palestinians for the upcoming Mideast peace summit.

So why did Olmert go public with his cancer? It was a skillful move. He gains sympathy, which he badly needs. His popularity in the polls has flat-lined in the low teens because of last summer's ill-planned war in Lebanon. A series of corruption and sleaze scandals also rocked his cabinet. It also puts a stop to rumors that Olmert's health may be worse than it actually is. In this small country, it's impossible to have a premier's motorcade zooming in and out of a hospital without anyone noticing. And, of course, Israeli interest in their leader's wellbeing has sharpened since January 2006, when former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had a stroke and fell into a coma. Sharon has yet to recover and probably never will.

By Tim McGirk/Jerusalem