Jerusalem Monday, September 29, 2008
Israel News Today
Tel: 02-624-1174 Daily Summary of the Hebrew Media Fax: 02-622-1136
Interview With Prime Minister Olmert
Olmert: I Erred. I Am Not Trying to Justify What I Did for 35 Years.
Yedioth Ahronoth (p. B2) by Nahum Barnea and Shimon Shiffer -- This is a parting interview with a person who
has still not accepted the fact that he is parting, an interview such as Ehud Olmert has never given, and will
probably never give again. The phone in the office of the Prime Minister’s Residence rings, but he does not pick
it up. He does not have pages in front of him with talking points, only a cup of latte. The interview is being held
14 hours after his resignation. On this morning, Olmert has chosen to stay home. In the course of the interview,
his wife Aliza comes in and photographs her husband while he answers questions: Throughout the period they
lived in the official residence, [Aliza] Olmert has kept a diary, and today’s photographs will join it.
The conversation with him is mostly conducted as an ongoing monologue, with few questions in between:
Olmert has a bellyful, and knows what he wishes to tell. In this interview, he tries to leave a double impression.
On the one hand, he wants to leave a legacy after him. He places on the doorstep of his successor a foreign
policy doctrine, the likes of which has never been spoken by an incumbent prime minister. The time has come to
leave the territories, he says, including the West Bank and East Jerusalem, with various arrangements, and the
Golan Heights as well.
He pins the flaws of the governmental system in Israel on the reality of the occupation. There is no
government because there are no borders. He admits that he erred in his foreign policy views and actions for
decades. He dismisses out of hand the security approach that governs Israeli thinking.
The things he says expose him to criticism from all quarters. They also do not make things easy for Tzippi
Livni and the negotiations that she is conducting to form a government. She can be expected to clarify whether
she adopts Olmert’s updated doctrine or opposes it. There is no diplomatic fog in this interview that she can
hide behind.
The second impression pertains to the investigations. Olmert is aware of his reputation as a corrupt politician,
and the animosity towards him in large parts of Israeli society. He refused to answer our specific questions on
topics related to his investigations, but left no doubt as to his opinions about the conduct of the police, the
attorney general, the state comptroller and his critics in politics. His main allegation is that the golem has risen
against its maker: It has become impossible to run the country.
He is offended to the depths of his heart, but refuses to whine. He is convinced that one person, State Attorney
Moshe Lador, has caused a prime minister in Israel to be ousted, by means of one questionable witness, without
a trial and without solid evidence. In the end, he is convinced, he will extricate himself from his legal troubles,
although it could take years and exact a heavy personal toll.
As for Ehud Barak, he is so angry at him that he prefers not to talk about him.
The sense that arises from his words is that of a great missed opportunity. To borrow a metaphor from soccer,
his favorite sport, a penalty kick missed at the 90th minute, a goal scored by a foul. He believes that he could
have signed peace agreements with all our neighbors, it was within reach, but he understood that in the situation
that arose no one would believe that his motives were clean, and therefore it would be best for him to resign. He
believes that he was an excellent prime minister, in his decisions during and after the war, in his handling of
social issues, and in the political management of a difficult coalition. And he conveys a strong, passionate desire
to receive another chance. If he can return, he will return.
―I said from the first moment, from the same famous Independence Day when the Israel Police thought that a
great commotion should be raised, that if I were to be indicted I would resign. I did not wait for an indictment to
be filed. All along, I said that I would not by any means permit my personal interests to clash with the interests
of the state. As soon as I feel that the personal interests, or the way things look or are perceived by the public,
conflict with the interests of the state, I will prefer the national interests to the private interests. I said this and
did it—without manipulations, without games and without excuses.‖
Is this the end of your career, we asked.
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―I remember several prime ministers who resigned,‖ he said. ―One said, I am leaving to look out for my own
interests. One said, I am taking a break. I am not announcing a break and am not announcing that I am going to
look out for myself. I have resigned from the post of prime minister, period. I haven’t thought yet what I will do
after that: It is too early. I still hold a post, and I am largely devoted to the tasks that this post requires. And I
will be engaged in them until the last second of my term.‖
But you have undoubtedly engaged in soul-searching, we said.
―I will do my soul-searching with myself,‖ said Olmert. ―I want to engage now in the soul-searching of the
people of Israel, for whose well-being I was responsible at the highest echelon. My private, personal soul-
searching is a matter that is between me and myself, between me and my family, between me and my close
friends, my brothers, my relatives. You can read about it in the memoirs that I may write one day. What is
important to me at the moment is where the people of Israel are going. I am concerned about the dangers and
encouraged by the opportunities.
―The problem of the time I am talking about is not my private time, not the period I have left to fill the prime
minister’s seat and bask in the wonderful scent that surrounds this room. It is worthless to me, it has been and
remains worthless to me.
―I admit, only one thing moved me here, perhaps because I am a sentimental person, contrary to the image that
people attribute to me. I thought again and again about the fact that I am sitting in the room where Menahem
Begin sat, where Yitzhak Rabin sat and where Yitzhak Shamir sat. These are three people whom I held in high
esteem, each in a different way, each in a different context.
―But beyond this, what occupies me is what awaits my children and my grandchildren. In a few years, my
grandchildren will ask what their grandfather did, what country we have left them.
―I said five years ago, in an interview to Yedioth Ahronoth, and I tell you today, in the end we have an
opportunity that is limited in time—a time so short as to cause terrible distress—in which we may be able to take
a historical step in our relations with the Palestinians and a historical step in our relations with the Syrians. In
both cases, the decision we have to make is a decision that we have been refusing for 40 years to look at open-
eyed.
―We face the need to decide, but are not willing to tell ourselves, yes, this is what we have to do. We have to
reach an agreement with the Palestinians, the meaning of which is that in practice we will withdraw from almost
all the territories, if not all the territories. We will leave a percentage of these territories in our hands, but will
have to give the Palestinians a similar percentage, because without that there will be no peace.‖
Including in Jerusalem?
―Including in Jerusalem,‖ said Olmert, ―with special solutions that I can envision on the topic of the Temple
Mount and the sacred and historical sites. Whoever talks seriously about wanting security in Jerusalem and not
wanting tractors and bulldozers to crush the legs of his best friends, as happened to a close friend of mine
(Jerusalem attorney Shuki Kramer), who lost a leg because he was run over by a terrorist on a bulldozer, has to
give up parts of Jerusalem.
―Whoever wants to hold on to all of the city’s territory will have to bring 270,000 Arabs inside the fences of
sovereign Israel. It won’t work. A decision has to be made. This decision is difficult, terrible, a decision that
contradicts our natural instincts, our innermost desires, our collective memories, the prayers of the Jewish people
for 2,000 years.
―I am the first who wanted to enforce Israeli sovereignty on the entire city. I admit it. I am not trying to justify
retroactively what I did for 35 years. For a large portion of these years, I was unwilling to look at reality in all
its depth.
Who are we afraid of?
Do you think, we asked, that had you continued in your post you could have reached agreements?
―I think that we are very close to reaching agreements,‖ he said.
Both on the Syrian issue and on the Palestinian issue, we asked.
―On the Syrian issue too,‖ he replied, ―what we need first and foremost is a decision. I want to see whether
there is one serious person in the State of Israel who believes that peace can be made with the Syrians without
ultimately giving up the Golan Heights.‖
It would appear, we said, that policy makers in Israel always reach this conclusion only when they can no
longer decide on these matters themselves.
―Not in my case,‖ said Olmert. ―I come with this conclusion when I can still make a decision. I started my
talks with the Syrians in February 2007, long before the Israel Police and the State Attorney’s Office made a
rush at me, long before that. And I worked on it quietly. Throughout that period, I made efforts and my envoys
went to all kinds of places, and various unknown people worked on my behalf to persuade the Syrians that I
intended to talk to them seriously. And today we have reached the point where we should tell ourselves, do we
want to make peace or not.
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―I am not saying that this is a simple question. Because someone might say, and ostensibly justifiably so, look,
for 35 years, since the Yom Kippur War, we have been living on the Golan without a violation of the cease-fire;
there is also no everyday friction with a civilian population there, as in the territories. Why not continue?
―In addition, everyone knows, and I don’t have to elaborate, that when we had to take actions to ensure our
security vis-à-vis the Syrians, we knew how to do so boldly, with imagination and force, and while taking risks.
Still, we have to look two moves ahead.‖
It arises from what you are saying, we said, that the burden of blame rests solely on us.
―No,‖ he replied. ―We have our burden. They have their burden. I am not proposing to make peace with
Syria while only giving up the Golan Heights. The Syrians know full well what they will have to give up in
order to receive the Golan Heights. They will have to give up their relationship with Iran as it now exists; they
will have to give up their relationship with Hizbullah; they will have to give up the continued backing they are
giving to the Hamas terrorism, the al-Qaida terrorism and the jihad in Iraq. They know: These things have been
made clear to them.
―I ask, let us assume that in the next year or two a regional war breaks out and we reach a military
confrontation with Syria. I have no doubt that we will roundly defeat them; we are stronger than them. I am
telling you, Israel is the strongest country in the Middle East. We can face any of our adversaries, and we can
face all the adversaries together and win. I only ask myself, what will happen when we beat them? First of all,
we will pay prices, and they will be painful.
―After we pay what we will pay, what will we tell them? Let’s talk. And what will the Syrians say to us?
Let’s talk about the Golan Heights.
―So I ask, why get into a war with the Syrians, [with] losses, destructions, damages, to reach what can be
reached without paying such heavy prices.‖
You are describing a tragic situation, we said. On one hand, a terrible war in the offing, on the other hand a
near chance for peace, and in the middle, a prime minister being ousted.
―I am not talking in terms of a terrible war,‖ he replied. ―I am talking in terms of priorities. When there is no
peace, the chances of war are always greater. As a person who sits on this seat, you have to ask yourself where
you direct your efforts, do you direct the effort at making peace, or at constantly becoming stronger, stronger,
and stronger in order to win the war.
―And I say, we are strong enough as we are. The strength we have today is great, and it is sufficient to face
any threat. Now we have to see how we use this infrastructure of force in order to build peace and not to win a
war.
―The question is how we dismantle the complex system of what is known as the axis of evil, how we do this by
smart, responsible diplomatic processes, which entail taking a risk.
―True, an agreement with Syria bears a risk. Whoever wants to operate with zero risks, should move to
Switzerland or Iceland. Whoever wants to make peace in the Middle East should understand that he also has to
take risks. I am not proposing to take insane risks: I am proposing to take risks versus which there are chances
of dramatic changes.
―We know full well that my governmental term is short, but the governmental term of others is also short. We
don’t know, for example, what will happen in the Palestinian Authority after January 9, 2009. It may be that by
some manipulation, which I hope will be successful, Abu Mazen will remain in power. But we believe that there
is a very great danger that there will be a bloody clash, which will thwart any possibility of continuing
negotiations and perhaps will force us to be involved in the confrontation, with bloodshed, with everything that
could happen as a result.
―The timetable I am talking about is not my personal affair: I resigned, and I hope that Tzippi will succeed in
forming a government as quickly as possible. The question is what will happen in the meantime in our
immediate surroundings, with the partners that we can now talk to—and I am not talking only about the
Palestinians.
―Arik Sharon spoke about painful prices, and refused to elaborate them. I say, there is no choice but to
elaborate. In the end, we will have to withdraw from the lion’s share of the territories, and for the territories we
leave in our hands, we will have to give compensation in the form of territories within the State of Israel at a
ratio that is more or less 1:1.
―What I am saying to you now has not been said by any Israeli leader before me. The time has come to say
these things. The time has come to put them on the table.
―I read the words spoken by our retired generals, and I say, how is it possible that they have not learned
anything and have not forgotten anything. Someone once said to me, a very senior official in the Israeli
administration, they are still living in the War of Independence or the Sinai campaign. With them, it is all about
tanks and land and controlling territories and controlled territories and this hilltop and that hilltop. All these
things are worthless.
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―Every grain of land in the expanse between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea that we give up will
scorch my heart. These are parts of the historical Land of Israel, that have always belonged, in the most
profound manner, to the Jewish people and their history. When we dig in these territories, what do we find?
Speeches by Arafat’s grandfather or Arafat’s great-great-great-great grandfather? We find there the historical
memories of the Jewish people.
―The real threat that we face today in the north, the south and the east is missiles and rockets. We will have to
give a response to them, but we will not reach a response by bargaining over 200 meters.
―The goal is to try to reach for the first time the delineation of an exact border line between us and the
Palestinians, where the whole world—the United States, the UN, Europe—will say, these are the borders of the
State of Israel, we recognize them, we anchor them in formal resolutions of international institutions. These are
Israel’s borders, and these are the recognized borders of the Palestinian state.
―It is possible that the implementation of the agreements will take time. It may take many more efforts to
ensure that there will be no terrorism from there and no threats. We all understand this.
―But first let’s reach agreements. Why the fear? Whom are we afraid of? Who thinks seriously that if we sit
on another hilltop, on another hundred meters, that this is what will make the difference for the State of Israel’s
basic security? We can go inside another two kilometers and the range of the rockets will be another 10
kilometers. As is happening in Gaza, which we evacuated down to the last meters, and the threat still exists.
―I am not saying this to say that we erred in leaving Gaza. It is good that we left Gaza. I reject the self-
flagellation of all the politicians who say that we should have stayed there, just as I reject the view posed by
those who say, we should make a renewed assault on Gaza and take control of it. The prices we will pay for this
matter are not worth any benefit that we will derive.
―Is the fact that an arrangement has not already been reached between us and the Palestinians a result of
Israel’s insistence? No. Let there be no doubts on this score. Unfortunately, the Palestinians do not have the
necessary courage, the power, the inner determination, the will and the enthusiasm. If we do not reach an
arrangement, I will by no means be willing for the blame to be cast on Israel. It will be cast, first and foremost,
on the other side.‖
A moment before the peak
―But let’s talk about us. I sat a few days ago at a meeting attended by the most central people in the decision-
making processes on the most crucial issues in the country. For over two hours, I listened carefully to
everything that was said. In the end I said, and I am quoting from memory: I will tell you something very
outspoken and sharp, and I am asking in advance that no one be offended. It is not personal, it is a cumulative
summary of everything that has been said here. When I hear you, I understand why we have not made peace
with the Palestinians and the Syrians for 40 years, and why we will not make peace for 40 more years with the
Palestinians and the Syrians.
―Should I tell you that reaching peace is easy? I agree with you that it is difficult. Should I say that there are
complexities? Without a doubt. That there are sensitivities? Undoubtedly. Should I tell you that there are
uncertainties? There are uncertainties. Should I say that there are things that could go wrong? There is no
doubt that things could go wrong.
―I want to learn from my own mistakes. I did not see it then, I am not trying to justify myself. Exactly 30
years ago, when Menahem Begin came back from Camp David, I spoke against and I voted against. I admit it, I
am not hiding it, I am not obfuscating on the matter.
―What was the greatness of Menahem Begin, which is not spoken about? Menahem Begin sent Dayan to meet
with Tuhami in Morocco, and before the negotiations started, before he even met with Sadat, before he knew
whether Sadat would smile one way or the other, whether he would say one thing to him or the other, Dayan told
Tuhami on Begin’s behalf, we are willing to withdraw from all of Sinai. He started from the end. He first of all
told him, I am willing to withdraw from all of Sinai. Now let’s negotiate.
―If we are not willing to say this, all the talk about talks with Syria is worthless. It is possible that even if we
say it, when we sit down with the Syrians it will become apparent that the Syrians are unwilling to pay these
prices, and there will be no arrangement. But then we will say to ourselves, just a minute, at least we were close
to it.‖
Is it true, we asked, that the IDF is urging you to go to an agreement with the Syrians, with all the prices that
this entails?
―On the Syrian issue,‖ he replied, ―I reflect a position that has backing among all security organizations, but I
do not aim to share my responsibility and my positions with anyone, and I am not taking cover behind other
people’s positions. I am speaking my opinion.
―We are constantly raising the fears. Why? Because the only fears that we listen to are the fears we have
already experienced, not the fears we have not yet experienced. Once, the thought that a division of Syrian tanks
was standing on the Golan Heights and could move into the State of Israel, justifiably frightened us. Today we
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live in a different reality. We have the tools to stop a ground offensive without taking control of a single meter
in Syria, and we have other tools with which we can win such a campaign if it develops in the places from which
it develops, at the distances from which it will arrive. We have proven this. The Syrians also know this.
―When I look back, at the periods of the prime ministers who preceded me, Arik Sharon, Bibi Netanyahu,
Ehud Barak, and the late Rabin, I say, each of them made a step that led us in the right direction, but at some
point in time, at some juncture where a decision was required, the decision was not made.
―I want to lead the State of Israel towards this juncture, towards a decision. Without hesitation, with full force
and without fears. I am a person without fears. Not because I cannot appreciate dangers, but because I think
that I know how to deal with dangers, knowing the might that the State of Israel has. There are no ideal
decisions. There is no situation where it can be said that you should do one, two, three and all the pieces will
fall into place in some puzzle that you have assembled in your head. I worked for two years to reach the peak
exactly at this time, not because I planned with computer software that it would arrive exactly [now], but that is
what happened: We are very close to a decision. It will be very sad if we do not reach it.
―We now have an unprecedented system of international ties, which has also been influenced, at least in part,
by the relations I forged personally with world leaders. Bush, Gordon Brown, Angela Merkel, Silvio Berlusconi,
Nicolas Sarkozy, the prime ministers of Denmark, Holland and Sweden, the Russian leadership, with which we
have a lot of problems but we are talking to it. I sit here often, pick up the phone and say, I want to talk to the
president of Russia, and a few hours later I am speaking with the Russian president and we talk for three quarters
of an hour or an hour and create some kind of process.‖
Do you believe that agreements can be reached during your term of office, we asked.
―I say, we don’t have to wait with the decision. Either I will complete it or Tzippi Livni will complete it, or
whoever follows her will complete it. If not, the damage that will be caused to the State of Israel will be greater
than any petty debate over the question whether this should have been continued by one, two or three months,
whatever I have left in the Prime Minister’s Office. I believe this with all my heart.‖
You said that Israel’s deterrence has become greater, we said. This does not prevent Iran from continuing to
build nuclear weapons. You are leaving your post with Iran on the verge of going nuclear.
―There is a huge difference between our treatment of the Iranian problem and our treatment of the Palestinian,
Syrian and Lebanese problem,‖ said Olmert. ―These are our immediate neighbors. What we can do with them,
we can’t do with the Iranians.
―Iran is a large world power, which poses a threat to the international community. The one charged with
handling the Iranian issue is, first and foremost, the international community. Part of our megalomania and our
loss of proportions is the things that are said here about Iran. We are a country that has lost a sense of
proportion about itself.
―The assumption that if the United States, Russia, China, Britain and Germany don’t know how to deal with
the Iranians, we Israelis will know, we will do, we will act, is an example of loss of proportions.
―I say, gentlemen, let’s be more modest. We will do what we know how to do and what we can do, and we
will act within the boundaries of our realistic abilities, meaning that we will act within the envelope of the
international system, while we are not the ones leading it, but someone else.
―We have done a lot of things, much more than we can tell, to get the international system moving. I have
invested a great deal of my time in this. You know that I have made decisions that, were I to talk about them,
could be written in my resume in fairly large type.‖
First House, Second House
What do you think brought you down: was it your actions, your friends, the media, the police, the state
attorney?
―The day will come when I will deal with this,‖ he said. ―Not now.‖
At what stage of the investigations against you did you decide to resign?
―I made the decision a long time ago. I felt that they were going after me even before I was elected prime
minister, when I was only a deputy prime minister. Think about how many investigations the state comptroller
opened against me even before I was elected. He got into one house and then another house and a pen collection
and my wife’s studio and the Israel Small and Medium Enterprises Authority.
―When I saw foam on his lips, this uncontrollable lust to assault, all the evil and cruel enthusiasm to lash out,
to beat, to besmirch, to attack mercilessly, I realized that I was embarking on a path in which it was impossible
not to get hurt. It was clear to me that this was a war with casualties and that I have to learn how to withstand it.
―How is it that two hours before I am hosted at an incomparably grand reception by the president of China,
with all the might and grandeur of this huge power, whose relations with Israel are much more important in its
eyes than we think, that then I hear that the police are announcing that they are launching an investigation
against me over Bank Leumi.
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―Or when I am about to leave for Annapolis, which is no small matter: forty foreign ministers from all over the
world; all the foreign ministers of the Arab countries convening for the first time under one roof with the prime
minister of Israel, by invitation of the president of the US, the most important man in the world.
―And then the police announce, on the day that I am leaving, that they are about to hold a dramatic meeting on
the fate of the Bank Leumi case. So I ask, have we not lost perspective, have we not lost our capability to
distinguish between what is important and what can wait?
―But on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, I wanted to talk with you about what is bothering me and what excites me
about this country. I don’t want to whip the State of Israel on the back. There is nothing I love more, there is
nothing I am prouder of, than the State of Israel.
―There are people who love to lash out at others, because apparently they do not have another way to reach any
sort of personal satisfaction, a sense of getting something done. They are not important. They are only important
because we devote time to them, not because they are really important.‖
What is the source of the hatred toward you? we asked.
―I don’t know,‖ he says. ―I cannot analyze myself, and I cannot analyze those who treat me like this.
Incidentally, immediately after I offered my resignation, the bureau received many calls. I am not deluged in
hatred. I am surrounded by love. But I know that there are many who think otherwise, for all kinds of reasons
that I am not prepared to spend time in trying to understand. I am focused on my work. Not only on security. It
seems to me that there never was a prime minister who dealt with more issues beyond security than me.
―Incidentally, this is one of the things that I said to Tzippi at the private meeting between us. We had a very
good meeting, fair and open, that I admit did not take place between us a lot during the period that each one of us
served in our respective positions. The tension was different – that’s not important now. We agreed to talk about
this too one day.
―I told her, there is a danger that the prime minister will be sucked into security issues, because really these
issues are overwhelming. It is true that the defense minister has an important job and I say this in appreciation of
both defense ministers who served under me, both to Amir Peretz and Ehud Barak. But finally, the decision is
that of the prime minister. Success belongs to everyone: the failure is his alone. The success belongs to anyone
who was involved or not involved in one way or another. That’s the way of the world.‖
What do you think of Tzippi Livni? Is she panicking? Do you think she is suitable?
―She is a capable person,‖ he said, refusing to go into details.
Yes?
―Certainly,‖ he says. ―I have never said otherwise. She is a capable person. I wish her well. I told her also that I
would do everything so that she succeeds. I am a Kadima man, I have not declared myself incapacitated from
Kadima, I am in Kadima and she was elected leader of Kadima and I will do everything so that she succeeds and
I will help her, as much as she wants. That’s what I told her. I will not interfere and I will not put pressure on her
and I will not try to trip her up. I think that she is a capable person. Otherwise I would not say so.‖
What did you learn from your term of office, we asked. Is the claim true that the hands of prime minister of
Israel are tied, that the feeling he has is one of helplessness against the system?
―There is something in the method of governance of ours that is impossible,‖ said Olmert. ―First of all, relying
on a coalition regime makes you obligated to an almost endless system of maneuvering in order to maintain a
majority in the Knesset. I think that in this matter, I was quite skilled, in comparison with all of my predecessors.
―Secondly, the balance between the division of powers within the ruling establishment in the state has been
broken. The government is no longer the central power. This is something that, in my opinion, is not healthy and
needs to be corrected.
―I will give you an example in connection with me, from my period as minister of trade and industry. A cabinet
minister is responsible, due to his position, for development. He asks the director of the Investments Center to
help him accelerate the establishment of a tourist project near Eilat. And then the state comptroller comes and
says that the minister is not allowed to do so. No one claimed that I said, give him what is not his due, that I said,
interpret the law in a crooked manner, the opposite of what should be. No. What the state comptroller said, is
that I cannot give him instructions in the framework of my policy.
―I was appointed minister in order to decide that a development area would be established there, because if
not, Aqaba would be like Sharm el-Sheikh, with 42,000 hotel rooms, and Eilat would be stuck with 10,000 hotel
rooms and would become a ghost town, as will truly be now.
―From what does this perverseness stem? It stems from the fact that the weight of politicians has increasingly
declined and the weight of officialdom has increased. Unfortunately, in a significant number of cases,
officialdom, out of self-defense, excels mainly in its ability to say what cannot be done.
―This is an absurd situation. You say, let’s take people. This country has the most talented people in the world.
Not only I say this: the biggest businessmen in the world say this. You go to talented people and ask them to
work for the government. They say, yes, and immediately they become a target for attack, a target for suspicion,
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they need to sign a conflict of interests agreement, that make them, even before they begin to work, feel like
recanting and saying, thanks but no thanks, I’m leaving. […]
1:00 AM in Japan
―In fact, all that is said against me, when you remove all the wrappings, is the fact that I never saw myself
subject to this concept. When I was trade and industry minister, I said that I would act everywhere, I would
travel anywhere in the world. There are business people, representatives of Israeli companies, who until today
proudly describe how I sat with them at 1:00 AM in Japan or China or Korea and had them meet with
representatives of local companies in order to encourage Israeli exports. When I was appointed to the position of
trade and industry minister, journalists asked me, knights of integrity from The Marker, what would be your test
of success? I said, an increase in exports. Gentlemen, over the last three years, there have been more exports
than imports. There has never been anything like this in the history of Israel.
―In no way am I solely responsible for this. But I contributed to this by not giving up, by telling international
officials, sit with Israeli business people, you’ll see, maybe we Israelis have something to offer.
―And now, police investigators come to me and say, you helped Talansky in Chile. I tell them, first of all, why
did I read about this in the newspapers before you came to me? Also this I leaked? Okay. Now tell me how I
helped. And then they pull out a letter I wrote to the Chilean defense minister. In the letter I say that there is a
company that is connected to Israel Aircraft Industries, which produces satellite products at a very high level,
and therefore we in the security establishment use it.
―So the investigators say to me, why did you write on behalf of the security establishment. I am a cabinet
minister. What should I do if not promote Israeli exports? What am I minister of trade and industry for?
―I asked them, what’s the connection between this and Talansky? This is an offshoot of Israel Aircraft
Industries. They say no, Israel Aircraft Industries controls 80% of the company. The twenty percent remaining
are divided between shareholders, one of whom is Talansky. I said, really, I thank you for the information. I
didn’t know. […]
Bugi’s Narrow-mindedness
―If I am permitted to say a word of praise about myself, because in the end I am only human, if I don’t do this,
I cannot expect others to do so. I say, it is unfortunate that some of the Israeli public could not see their prime
minister in situations with truly crucial decisions on the agenda, his emotional calm and cool head and restraint
and patience, in order to make decisions that were not certain.
―Even when the day comes to tell the whole story about the Lebanon war, the picture will look entirely
different than it did, because I am the only one who did speak out. Bugi Yaalon, who doesn’t know what
happened, spoke. All sorts of generals spoke, who all knew something about their sector, brigadier generals,
majors, or lieutenant colonels. Only those who knew the entire picture, from the beginning until end, have kept
quiet until today. This created a distorted picture.‖
Yaalon, we said, connects everything to one corrupt, self-interested system, which reaches non-professional
decisions on existential matters.
―He speaks mainly of Arik and his court,‖ he responded.
He also has criticism about the war, we say.
―I think that Bugi is a courageous commander,‖ he says. ―No one can take this away from him. A thinker? A
philosopher? With a broad worldview? That’s a matter of assessment.‖
It seems that during your term of office, the dignity afforded those in the position of prime minister ended, we
say. The remarks by Yaalon and MKs such as Yehimovitch and Eldad exemplify this. […]
Cancer Can Wait
We asked George Bush in an interview how he thinks he will be remembered, we said. How would you
respond to this question?
―I think that the attempt to presume to say today, when I am not yet finished, how I will be remembered in 10
years, 20 years, 30 years, there is something presumptuous and arrogant about that. I can say one thing, that I
hope that in the final analysis, people will know that I wanted to improve the State of Israel and to do everything
so that it be a better country, a stronger country, a happier country. That is truly the thing that preoccupied me
day and night. Nothing else.‖
Do you think, we asked, that in the end, you will emerge safely from all the investigations that you didn’t want
to talk about?
―I am confident that I will,‖ he said. ―Of course, the problem with these things is how many years it takes you
to do this and what the personal and family price is that you pay until you get to this.‖
Do you think, we asked, that the cancer outbreak was connected to the tension of the investigations?
―I don’t know,‖ he replied. ―In the meantime, I am recovering from the cancer.‖
Without an operation? We asked.
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―No,‖ he said. ―I’m not thinking of not doing the operation. Apparently I will have to do the operation one day.
The question is when.‖
After you end your position, we asked.
―I assume so,‖ he replied. ―perhaps I should have had the operation earlier. But at every point in time I thought
that the matters I was dealing with were more important than my cancer.‖
What was your best day in this house, we asked, and what was your worst?
―Until I was elected as prime minister by the public, when I was still a deputy,‖ he said, ―I refused to move
house, despite the pressure for my safety. One day I told Aliza, come, let’s work this out with Dudu (the house
manager), we’ll move in and we’ll see. We walked around. We went upstairs. She said, I don’t want to live here.
The truth is, she burst out crying. She never wanted to live here.
―The happiest day in this house was two weeks ago. Seven of our grandchildren were here. We blew up the
pool on the grass and filled it with water. The kids ran around the house naked and ran and in and out of the
house and ran through the patio toward the pool , running all the time, with the guards running after them. This
was such a lovely picture, so human, so Israeli, so unprime minister-like. For me this was the happiest moment
in the two and a half years in this house.
―Look, talks took place here in which crucial decisions were made. These will certainly be remembered. But
my basic assumption was that this is what a prime minister does. And there will other such days. I know there
will be others.‖
There will be others? We asked.
―Yes,‖ he replied.
For you? We asked.
― Yes,‖ replied Olmert, ―yes!‖
Tel: 02-624-1174 Israel News Today Fax: 02-622-1136 isrlnews@netvision.net.il September 29, 2008 8