Olmert in America

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in America. What a relief it must be for him to get away from Israel. In the last few days, a friend noticed a new bumper sticker on cars zooming along the Tel Aviv -Jerusalem highway. It reads: “Olmert you disgust me.” When Olmert returns from his week in America, that's the bumper sticker he'll see on the passing cars when his motorcade travels up the pine-clad hills to Jerusalem. Welcome home, Mr. Prime Minister.

But in America, he's still a hero of sorts, certainly while speaking before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, better known by its acronym: AIPAC. For American supporters of Israel, any Israeli leader is to be treated like a warrior king or a rock star, no matter what kind of sleazy trouble he faces back in Israel.

I wonder, perhaps a reader who attended his speech can enlighten me: Was Morris Talansky, the American financier and Israel-booster, there in the audience, clapping fiercely for Olmert? Doubt it. As you recall, it was Talansky who gave testimony that he doled out over $150,000 in cash over the years to Olmert, and was referred to as the PM's “personal ATM machine”. Says one frequent visitor to AIPAC bashes: “They'll applaud Olmert, but you can bet there'll be an undercurrent of whispers against him.”

Amir Oren, a Haaretz columnist, ironically pointed out that Olmert will be visiting two prestigious addresses during the next week or so: the White House on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and Room No. 950 at the Israeli Department of Justice, where Olmert is the subject of an investigation into possible corruption.

While in Washington, it must be hard for Olmert to focus his mind on such pressing issues as persuading President Bush to thump Iran, or where can a visiting prime minister find a good Cuban cigar? And, at the White House, Bush and his aides supposedly asked Olmert how the scandal will affect peace talks with the Palestinians. The short answer: if Olmert is forced to resign –as rivals in his centrist Kadmia party are plotting-- Bush can write off any possibility of a breakthrough in the Israel-Palestinian peace talks during his waning days in office. As for Olmert, he ought to bask in the American applause. Re-play the tape a few times in his Washington hotel room. There won't be much applause back home.

by Tim McGirk/Jerusalem