A Daily Analysis
By Marc Schulman

August 30 , 2007 Corrpution and Politics

Government ministers partook today in a number of actions which were simply political and clearly show why Prime Minister Olmert is such a great politician, but such a lousy leader.

The first action was taken by Minister of Finance and Olmert's close confidant, Ronnie Bar-On, when did decided not to renew Accountant General Yaron Zelekha's contract. This certainly does not pass the smell test. Zelekha has been the greatest critic of Olmert[s government regarding corruption. He is the one who brought forth the Bank Leumi investigation, and he is the one who has said that Olmert and his confidants are corrupt. So here comes Bar-On one of Olmert closest confidants, and tries to end Zelekha's service. In the meantime, the State Comptroller, whose job it is to investigate corruption, has announced that he will fight the attempt to fire Zelekha.

The second action was taken by Minister of Justice, Daniel Friedmann. There has been a government commission chaired by former judge Tirkel that has been working on rewriting the laws relating to property and inheritance. The committee, in their recommendations, decided to change the wording of the law that defines a couple as a union between man and women and just leave the word couple in the law. This allows for opening it up for nontraditional partners to be able to receive inheritance. Friedmann met with Minister of Industry, Trade, and Labor Eli Yishai, from the Shas party and announced that he was going to change the law back so it will state that a couple is union between a man and a women.

Olmert's unbelievable ability to take political actions to solidify his control ties these two events together. Olmert is an expert in making the political deals, and placing people who will look out for his interest in key positions. The result is that the least popular Prime Minister, who is under criminal investigation in a number of cases, continues in office, and shows no sign of ending his term as Prime Minister. He is a great politician, if only his political deals were for the betterment of Israel, things might look different.