A Daily Analysis
By Marc Schulman

May 19, 2008 Olmert Received Envelopes of Cash

Today the question of whether the testimony of the prosecution witness against Olmert will be taken before the Supreme Court hears a petition for indictment. It is clear Olmertís lawyers are interested in doing one thing and one thing only-- delaying the day that Tolansky testifies in open court that he gave ìenvelopes full of cashî to Olmert. The prosecution seems very confident that it has a serious case against Olmert. It also made clear that Olmertís TV defense that the allegation can be explained, as a case of pure election finance is completely false. The prosecution made it clear that Olmert received money when he was a minister and not only when he was running for election.

An even more absurd political farce continued to be played out today, as elements of the Pensionersí party that planned to break away and align themselves with Gadymack were forced to halt their plans, temporarily. A little fact that the Knesset legal advisor stated that there agreement with Gadymack was totally illegal, put a temporary end to the plans.

I would write something insightful about the chance of a ceasefire in Gaza, but the reports are so conflicting, at the moment, I do not have a clue.