I once wrote here about Ehud Olmert, that I thought of him as a political knife-fighter and brute. A report in today’s Haaretz confirms that impression. Israel’s Channel 10 has dug up an internal memo written by his own staff detailing 115 Likud party activists whom he “helped” by doing various favors when he was Trade and Industry minister in Sharon’s government. In the TV report, a postal service executive had this to say about one encounter with Don Olmert:
Avi Moskovitch, assistant to the postal service director general, told Channel 10 that Olmert pressured senior postal officials to promote his associates. He said that one time, Olmert threatened the director general of the postal service, Yossi Shelly, while they were riding in an elevator, telling him: “If you don’t finish this appointment in the north for me, I’ll cut off your balls.”
Olmert’s response to the memo? He’s apparently developed a sudden case of Alzheimer’s:
“I am not familiar with the document,” the prime minister said. “It was presented to me a very short time ago. I don’t recall composing such a document or authorizing someone to do so.
“We did a lot of things we were legally obligated to do…There are other instances that I don’t specifically recall. We acted in accordance with the directives of the attorney general.”
