Foes and media round on Olmert over bribe probe

Enlarge Photo Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert gives a statement at his house in Jerusalem May 8,...

Fri, May 9 02:07 PM

By Avida Landau

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Ehud Olmert's opponents and much of Israel's press called on the prime minister to resign on Friday after he admitted taking cash from an American businessman for close to a decade.

Legal sources say Olmert took hundreds of thousands of dollars from a New York financier referred to as "The Laundry Man" in coded records that investigators say were kept by Olmert's secretary.

Olmert said late on Thursday he would step down if indicted.

"I was elected by you, the citizens of Israel, to be prime minister. I do not intend to shrug off this responsibility," he said. "However, although not required by law, if the attorney general decides to file an indictment against me I will resign."

Newspapers freed from a gag order on the investigation splashed coverage of the scandal that broke as Israel celebrated the 60th anniversary of the state's founding.

"Millions of shekels -- cash in hand," the top-selling tabloid Maariv said on its front page.

"It is doubtful Olmert can survive the current investigation," wrote Nahum Barnea, a senior columnist for Yedioth Ahronoth daily. "If not because of the Talansky affair, ... then because of the cumulative effect of all the ongoing investigations against him."

Commentator Shalom Yerushalmi, noted in Maariv, how Olmert, in a late-night televised statement had told Israelis he never took bribes and described the money from Morris Talansky as campaign donations managed by Olmert's former law partner.

"Prime Minister Ehud Olmert looked yesterday into the eyes of each and every one of us and asked us to believe him," Yerushalmi wrote. "If the public could respond collectively it would, of course, ask: Why? For how many years can we hear about your escapades with the police and go on believing you?"

Olmert, whose troubles may upset peace negotiations with the Palestinians and cloud next week's celebratory visit from U.S. President George W. Bush, has defended himself against a handful of other inquiries since he became prime minister in 2006.

The right-wing opposition Likud party, which Olmert once represented before bolting to the new, centrist group Kadima, is keen for a snap election that opinion polls suggest it and its leader Benjamin Netanyahu could dominate.

"Olmert and the Kadima government have no public legitimacy, no moral legitimacy, and we will not support them in any agreement or in any military move," said Likud member of parliament Yuval Steinitz.

Shelly Yecimovitch, a member of Olmert's main coalition partner Labour Party, also urged Olmert to resign -- although Labour leader Ehud Barak has so far not commented.

Yecimovitch said Olmert had "proved beyond any shadow of a doubt he cannot distinguish between being a suspect and being a prime minister."

However, some Israelis questioned the strength of the prosecutors' case after series of inquiries that failed to indict the prime minister.

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