Ehud Olmert, a career politician who had previously enjoyed little of the popularity of political ally Ariel Sharon, has come in to the spotlight in the last two months because of recent events in Israel. Olmert had previously held many positions within the government since his start in politics at age 28, including Minister Without Portfolio of Minority Affairs (1988-1990), Minister of Health (1990-1992) and Minister of Communications
(2003-2004) . Olmert also served as the Mayor of Jerusalem for two terms, from 1993 to 2003, wherefore he was re-elected into the Knesset in 2003.
Though he has been effective enough in his posts, he has received much more attention recently because of his unwavering closeness with Mr. Sharon. In contrast to Sharon’s strong military background, Olmert’s upbringing has deep roots in the right-wing movement of Revisionist Zionism, started before the state of Israel was even created.
Because of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s debilitating stroke, Mr. Olmert took over the leadership of the newly formed centrist Kadima party with the blessing of the entire party, competitors for the head position included.
More importantly, on January 4th, 2006 Olmert became Acting Prime Minister of Israel and took charge of the duties regularly preformed by Mr. Sharon.
In the upcoming Israeli election that will occur in late March, Olmert is considered to hold the lead in the polls and seems to be the favored candidate to succeed Mr. Sharon as Prime Minister of Israel. Olmert is viewed by the public as Sharon’s heir-apparent in large part because he has promised to see through the actions that Sharon had promised to take, including the continuation of the popular Disengagement plan.
Prime Minister Sharon’s support base grew exponentially because of the Disengagement plan. This plan, in which the Gaza strip and certain settlements in the West Bank were turned over to the Palestinians (the clear majority in those areas), was originally mentioned to the press by Olmert in 2003. This announcement occurred during his tenure as Minister of Communication. In addition to being the first one in his camp to publicly mention unilateral withdrawal, Olmert has also publicly taken credit for inventing the plan2. In claiming credit for inventing this idea, Olmert is fashioning his image in likes of both his own father and Ariel Sharon. Since Olmert has media experience from his IDF days where he worked in the Army Publications Unit, it comes as no shock that he uses the press well to his own advantage. Olmert’s brother Yossi Olmert is the former Director of the Government Press Office, and an accomplished political commentator too3.
Surely Olmert has received tips from his publicity-guru brother on handling the media. Olmert is known in the press corps as a “great interview”4because of his quick-witted temperament and quotable sound bites.
Olmert’s familiarity with the press is a considerably positive quality for a leader to posses, and a skill that may have been sharpened during his stint as Minister of Communication as well. By understanding the media he can also shape a positive public opinion for himself without coercion or any perceived desperation, as he did by ‘floating’ of the Disengagement plan in
2003 before Sharon’s public support for the idea.
Ehud Olmert’s participation in right-wing Israeli politics started early on.
Born near Binyamina in 1945 in the British Mandate of Palestine, even Olmert’s birthplace gave lip service to the leader of the Revisionist Zionist movement. His town was called “Nahalat Jabotinsky” (literally:
Jabotinsky’s outpost”) after the leader of the movement, Ze’ev Jabotinksy.
Olmert’s father was part of Irgun, an underground right-wing paramilitary group that was formed by an offshoot of Haganah, a Jewish national defense organization created in 19205. The British considered the group to be a terrorist organization, yet its ranks included future Prime Minister Menachem Begin. David Ben-Gurion and the ruling Mapai party, the predecessor of today’s Labor party, disbanded and condemned Irgun after the group was blamed for murdering a prominent member of the emerging labor movement.
Thereafter, members associated with Irgun and the political party of the Revisionist Zionists, Herut, were blacklisted and shunned by Israeli society6. These societal rejections may have caused Olmert to look inward and become more attached to the ideologies of his father, Mordechai Olmert (himself a member of Knesset), out of a sense of familial solidarity. To intellectually avenge mistreatment from the outside, young Olmert swayed to the far right–wing.
Part of Olmert’s indoctrination into the world of right-wing thought came with his involvement in the Beitar Youth Organization, a social and political group for young men and women that held the same ideologies of its parent, Herut, the opposition party affiliated with the Revisionist Zionist movement. Many prominent members of Herut came from the Beitar Youth Organization ranks including Yitzhak Shamir, Moshe Arens and Menachem Begin7. Though the group still has chapters worldwide, over the years with the changing of Israel’s political situation Beitar branched itself out in to different arms such as the Beitar-Jerusalem Football Club, of which Olmert is a professed fan. Olmert joined forces with Yossi Sarid in the 70’s to investigate and weed out corruption within Israeli football clubs8. We can surmise that as a lifelong supporter of Beitar in its many guises, Olmert’s desire to expose corruption in football clubs is connected to his support for both the Beitar- Jerusalem team, the players recruited from Beitar and the Revisionist ideals that the team was founded on.
As mentioned above, both the Irgun and Beitar Youth Group had connections to the Herut party, the forefather of the Likud party. Certain personages affiliated with today’s Likud party are “legacy” members, often called the “Princes of Likud” and include the likes of Benny Begin, son of Menachem Begin, Dan Meridor, son of Eliahu Meridor, and Binyamin Netanyahu, son of Ben-Zion Netanyahu. Before the creation of the Kadima party in November 2005, Likud had been split between hardliners and centrists who backed Sharon. Of the “Princes”, only Olmert was the ideological heir to Prime Minister Sharon. Both Benny Begin and Dan Meridon left Likud in 19988. Begin in particular found Likud too centrist for his ultra-conservative views.
Netanyahu quit his post as Minister of Finance in protest of Sharon’s Disengagement plan in August 2005. Subsequently Sharon offered Netanyahu’s ministerial post to Olmert, who already held the position of Deputy Prime Minister in the current government. This was just another sign of the bond between Sharon and Olmert, and showed that of all the Princes of Likud that only he was able to act as inheritor of Sharon’s ideologies.
The Sharon and Olmert first became close in 2001 bonding over a mutual dislike of Binyamin Netanyahu9, though two men battled each other in 2003 for control of Likud’s head position. However, once Sharon won the face-off he took Olmert in as his trusted advisor and rewarded him with the Deputy Prime Minister position. While Olmert and Sharon share personal and political views, this is not the only reason the two statesmen had such a strong connection. Olmert’s father passed away in 1998 and Sharon (the
archetype of an Israeli; military fighter and farmer) exemplifies the
struggle that Olmert’s father’s generation went through for the country.
Sharon’s behavior towards Olmert is almost fatherly in and of itself.
Perhaps this is owing to Mordechai Olmert’s death and Ehud Olmert’s subsequent need for a figurehead. As proof of this filial devotion, Olmert was one of the first to follow Sharon to the Kadima party for his stalwart move.
Since Sharon’s stroke, Olmert has remained faithful to his mentor in the same duty-bound way that he once defended his own father’s actions by following Mordechai into right-wing politics. Olmert made a promise to the Israeli public that he will continue implementing Sharon’s policies, such as a continuation of the Disengagement plan, which enjoys huge support inside Israel. Out of respect, or possibly because of his political acumen, Olmert has also declined to take the title of Prime Minister away from Sharon while he still lives. Olmert leaves a seat empty at meetings to show his deference to Sharon, even though it is highly unlikely that Sharon will ever be involved in political life again. Olmert does truly look up to Sharon, but he is shrewd enough to use their proximity to increase his own popularity with the public, who predominantly view Sharon as a hero. Olmert’s link to Sharon also confers credibility, and polls are showing Olmert to be the likely winner of the March elections. In effect, Olmert has positioned himself as the keeper of Sharon’s flame. The pomp of it all contains a paternal-worship facet.
Olmert will use his expertise with the press and Sharon’s legacy to propel him in to the Prime Minister post, with the Disengagement plan which is the jewel in his crown. Unilateral withdrawal has a tie to the Revisionist Zionism espoused in Olmert’s youth, which focuses on the importance of Israel retaining its Jewish identity through a majority of Jewish citizenry.
Olmert spoke as during an annual memorial service for Ben-Gurion in 2003 on the topic of the Disengagement plan. He has also said that to keep Israel a Jewish state, it must “maximize the number of Jews; to minimize the number of Palestinians”10. Unilateral withdrawal has support from many political factions in Israel and most of the public, but the core reasons for going through with it come from right-wing thought and Revisionist Zionism. It seems that Olmert’s long-held ideologies will come through in the end, though the means to the end are not necessarily from the same line of thought.
(2003-2004) . Olmert also served as the Mayor of Jerusalem for two terms, from 1993 to 2003, wherefore he was re-elected into the Knesset in 2003.
Though he has been effective enough in his posts, he has received much more attention recently because of his unwavering closeness with Mr. Sharon. In contrast to Sharon’s strong military background, Olmert’s upbringing has deep roots in the right-wing movement of Revisionist Zionism, started before the state of Israel was even created.
Because of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s debilitating stroke, Mr. Olmert took over the leadership of the newly formed centrist Kadima party with the blessing of the entire party, competitors for the head position included.
More importantly, on January 4th, 2006 Olmert became Acting Prime Minister of Israel and took charge of the duties regularly preformed by Mr. Sharon.
In the upcoming Israeli election that will occur in late March, Olmert is considered to hold the lead in the polls and seems to be the favored candidate to succeed Mr. Sharon as Prime Minister of Israel. Olmert is viewed by the public as Sharon’s heir-apparent in large part because he has promised to see through the actions that Sharon had promised to take, including the continuation of the popular Disengagement plan.
Prime Minister Sharon’s support base grew exponentially because of the Disengagement plan. This plan, in which the Gaza strip and certain settlements in the West Bank were turned over to the Palestinians (the clear majority in those areas), was originally mentioned to the press by Olmert in 2003. This announcement occurred during his tenure as Minister of Communication. In addition to being the first one in his camp to publicly mention unilateral withdrawal, Olmert has also publicly taken credit for inventing the plan2. In claiming credit for inventing this idea, Olmert is fashioning his image in likes of both his own father and Ariel Sharon. Since Olmert has media experience from his IDF days where he worked in the Army Publications Unit, it comes as no shock that he uses the press well to his own advantage. Olmert’s brother Yossi Olmert is the former Director of the Government Press Office, and an accomplished political commentator too3.
Surely Olmert has received tips from his publicity-guru brother on handling the media. Olmert is known in the press corps as a “great interview”4because of his quick-witted temperament and quotable sound bites.
Olmert’s familiarity with the press is a considerably positive quality for a leader to posses, and a skill that may have been sharpened during his stint as Minister of Communication as well. By understanding the media he can also shape a positive public opinion for himself without coercion or any perceived desperation, as he did by ‘floating’ of the Disengagement plan in
2003 before Sharon’s public support for the idea.
Ehud Olmert’s participation in right-wing Israeli politics started early on.
Born near Binyamina in 1945 in the British Mandate of Palestine, even Olmert’s birthplace gave lip service to the leader of the Revisionist Zionist movement. His town was called “Nahalat Jabotinsky” (literally:
Jabotinsky’s outpost”) after the leader of the movement, Ze’ev Jabotinksy.
Olmert’s father was part of Irgun, an underground right-wing paramilitary group that was formed by an offshoot of Haganah, a Jewish national defense organization created in 19205. The British considered the group to be a terrorist organization, yet its ranks included future Prime Minister Menachem Begin. David Ben-Gurion and the ruling Mapai party, the predecessor of today’s Labor party, disbanded and condemned Irgun after the group was blamed for murdering a prominent member of the emerging labor movement.
Thereafter, members associated with Irgun and the political party of the Revisionist Zionists, Herut, were blacklisted and shunned by Israeli society6. These societal rejections may have caused Olmert to look inward and become more attached to the ideologies of his father, Mordechai Olmert (himself a member of Knesset), out of a sense of familial solidarity. To intellectually avenge mistreatment from the outside, young Olmert swayed to the far right–wing.
Part of Olmert’s indoctrination into the world of right-wing thought came with his involvement in the Beitar Youth Organization, a social and political group for young men and women that held the same ideologies of its parent, Herut, the opposition party affiliated with the Revisionist Zionist movement. Many prominent members of Herut came from the Beitar Youth Organization ranks including Yitzhak Shamir, Moshe Arens and Menachem Begin7. Though the group still has chapters worldwide, over the years with the changing of Israel’s political situation Beitar branched itself out in to different arms such as the Beitar-Jerusalem Football Club, of which Olmert is a professed fan. Olmert joined forces with Yossi Sarid in the 70’s to investigate and weed out corruption within Israeli football clubs8. We can surmise that as a lifelong supporter of Beitar in its many guises, Olmert’s desire to expose corruption in football clubs is connected to his support for both the Beitar- Jerusalem team, the players recruited from Beitar and the Revisionist ideals that the team was founded on.
As mentioned above, both the Irgun and Beitar Youth Group had connections to the Herut party, the forefather of the Likud party. Certain personages affiliated with today’s Likud party are “legacy” members, often called the “Princes of Likud” and include the likes of Benny Begin, son of Menachem Begin, Dan Meridor, son of Eliahu Meridor, and Binyamin Netanyahu, son of Ben-Zion Netanyahu. Before the creation of the Kadima party in November 2005, Likud had been split between hardliners and centrists who backed Sharon. Of the “Princes”, only Olmert was the ideological heir to Prime Minister Sharon. Both Benny Begin and Dan Meridon left Likud in 19988. Begin in particular found Likud too centrist for his ultra-conservative views.
Netanyahu quit his post as Minister of Finance in protest of Sharon’s Disengagement plan in August 2005. Subsequently Sharon offered Netanyahu’s ministerial post to Olmert, who already held the position of Deputy Prime Minister in the current government. This was just another sign of the bond between Sharon and Olmert, and showed that of all the Princes of Likud that only he was able to act as inheritor of Sharon’s ideologies.
The Sharon and Olmert first became close in 2001 bonding over a mutual dislike of Binyamin Netanyahu9, though two men battled each other in 2003 for control of Likud’s head position. However, once Sharon won the face-off he took Olmert in as his trusted advisor and rewarded him with the Deputy Prime Minister position. While Olmert and Sharon share personal and political views, this is not the only reason the two statesmen had such a strong connection. Olmert’s father passed away in 1998 and Sharon (the
archetype of an Israeli; military fighter and farmer) exemplifies the
struggle that Olmert’s father’s generation went through for the country.
Sharon’s behavior towards Olmert is almost fatherly in and of itself.
Perhaps this is owing to Mordechai Olmert’s death and Ehud Olmert’s subsequent need for a figurehead. As proof of this filial devotion, Olmert was one of the first to follow Sharon to the Kadima party for his stalwart move.
Since Sharon’s stroke, Olmert has remained faithful to his mentor in the same duty-bound way that he once defended his own father’s actions by following Mordechai into right-wing politics. Olmert made a promise to the Israeli public that he will continue implementing Sharon’s policies, such as a continuation of the Disengagement plan, which enjoys huge support inside Israel. Out of respect, or possibly because of his political acumen, Olmert has also declined to take the title of Prime Minister away from Sharon while he still lives. Olmert leaves a seat empty at meetings to show his deference to Sharon, even though it is highly unlikely that Sharon will ever be involved in political life again. Olmert does truly look up to Sharon, but he is shrewd enough to use their proximity to increase his own popularity with the public, who predominantly view Sharon as a hero. Olmert’s link to Sharon also confers credibility, and polls are showing Olmert to be the likely winner of the March elections. In effect, Olmert has positioned himself as the keeper of Sharon’s flame. The pomp of it all contains a paternal-worship facet.
Olmert will use his expertise with the press and Sharon’s legacy to propel him in to the Prime Minister post, with the Disengagement plan which is the jewel in his crown. Unilateral withdrawal has a tie to the Revisionist Zionism espoused in Olmert’s youth, which focuses on the importance of Israel retaining its Jewish identity through a majority of Jewish citizenry.
Olmert spoke as during an annual memorial service for Ben-Gurion in 2003 on the topic of the Disengagement plan. He has also said that to keep Israel a Jewish state, it must “maximize the number of Jews; to minimize the number of Palestinians”10. Unilateral withdrawal has support from many political factions in Israel and most of the public, but the core reasons for going through with it come from right-wing thought and Revisionist Zionism. It seems that Olmert’s long-held ideologies will come through in the end, though the means to the end are not necessarily from the same line of thought.
