A Daily Analysis
By Marc Schulman

May 27, 2008 Olmert the Embarrassment

Today, the long awaited testimony of Talansky took place in an Israeli courtroom.It is a wonder how Olmert might be able to stay in his job after the many stories Talansky told. Talansky gave Olmert hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for everything for elections to vacations. Its is not totally clear whether Olmert's actions reach the legal definition of "bribery", but they clearly violate a host of laws. Talansky was not cross examined, at the request of Olmert's attorneys, who ask they postpone it. If Talansky does not return to Israel, for whatever reason, then his testimony stands without any cross.

By late night tonight in Israel there were rumors that Barak was going to demand that Olmert resign or else he would bring down the government. Barak has no choice but to do this, as do any other law-abiding politicians. Never in Israel's history has there been such a case and the sooner Olmert steps down, the sooner the position of Prime Minister of Israel can rehabilitated. To think a year ago Jews in many places in the world had pictures of Moshe Katzav and Ehud Olmert hanging proudly on their walls- today, both men turning out to be common criminals.