In his New Year interview with the Jerusalem Post (January 4, 2008), Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said, "I will never forget the scene I saw at the Cafe Moment.... There was a horrible blast. I went there as mayor.... I saw through a window how people sat on their

Is he a sadomasochist? Do Israelis love pain that much?

chairs as if they were waiting for a waiter to bring them a glass. Everybody sitting in position. But they were all dead."


I will never forget that scene, either. I almost went that terrible night to Cafe Moment, my neighborhood cafe at the time. I might have been one of those dead bar-goers. Fortunately, Coyote Ugly was on that night and, rather than sit at a bar, I decided to watch the chick flick. Curled up on my sofa in front of the tube, I felt the scary blast across the street. I went outside and saw the bodies on the pavement. One of my friends died at the bar that night.


I will also never forget Olmert's words to the press following the attack: "Now is the time for us to hug each other."


"Hug each other?" I wondered in disbelief. Is that really going to make us feel better? Is that going to bring back the dead? And where should we hug each other? In a cafe, where we might get blown up? On a bus? In a pizza shop?


Recently, when I pondered Olmert's restraint in the wake of Sderot's rocket siege, I remembered when all the brutal Jerusalem terrorist attacks occurred. When he was mayor of Jerusalem.


"I saw the pain," he told the Post, "perhaps more than others, because I was the mayor here for many years."


Is seeing the pain his claim to fame as Jerusalem mayor during the intifada? What did he do to stop it? Lead the city's residents in hug therapy workshops?


As the Jerusalem Post interview revealed, in running the country Olmert is not guided by reason and logic, but by emotions and friendships. What he feels in his heart. What he feels that other national leaders feel in their hearts. He should have worked out his emotional inconsistencies and longings in his personal diary before sharing them with a national newspaper.


Let's start with his big ol' heart. "We believe in our hearts," he said, that Palestinians have prevented a solution to the refugee problem. First of all, who is "we"? His cabinet? The Knesset? Israeli citizens? He shouldn't speak for me. I wouldn't dare make such a bold generalization based on faith. I would examine reality and then draw a conclusion with reasonable certainty. My hypothesis: the Arab states and Palestinian people have

I went outside and saw the bodies on the pavement.

perpetuated a refugee problem to maintain Israel as a scapegoat and target for terror.


Then, he went on to say that "our choice is between our very natural desire to live in the whole Land of Israel, which in all our hearts we believe is ours, and the need to compromise on Eretz Yisrael...."


I'm quite sure many left-wingers don't believe the land is "ours." And if it is ours, what makes it ours? That we won it in a war of self-defense? That it was promised to us in the Bible? And if Prime Minister Olmert believes so sincerely that the land is ours, how can be so quick to give it away so painfully? Is he a sadomasochist? Do Israelis love pain that much? Oh right, he will lead us in hug therapy workshops.


On the one hand, Olmert implies that Knesset members who are not ready to compromise on the Land of Israel are detached from reality. But does reality really play a part in his policies? He goes by what he and the Palestinians feel. For example, "in his heart," Abu Mazen has given up on the "right of return", even though Olmert confirms that Abu Mazen would not say explicitly that he believes in Israel as the Jewish state. Apparently, his hugging sessions with Abu Mazen have given Olmert the ability to feel, by spiritual osmosis, what's in the Palestinian leader's heart. Either that, or the need to give up on the "right of return" has actually cut through his heart when the Americans forced it down his throat.


A few paragraphs later, Olmert spoke of his uniqueness in "coming to discussions with the Palestinians from an emotional position."


Does he hug them if they are feeling pain when Israel builds too many settlements?


Sometimes, Olmert likes to play rabbi, counting less on the heart and more on the soul, like when he said, "I know to the depths of my soul the heavy price in blood that we paid for generations because of Arab and Palestinian hatred for us," just as he knows that Abu Mazen accepts Israel "in his soul." Was Olmert voted in for his soul? Or for his intelligent platform?


The devout Olmert acts like a true prophet when he describes the current leadership of major Western countries as "the hand of God." Is it the "hand of God" when said

Sometimes, Olmert likes to play rabbi.

countries tie Israel's hands from retaliating when attacked or from building homes in Har Homa?


Olmert's criteria for appraising foreign leaders are their good intentions and likability. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is a "very impressive man," as is Russian President Vladmir Putin. King Abdullah II of Jordan is "exceptional" and, of course, his best friend President George Bush is "a great guy." What specifically did these leaders do for us to earn these vague superlatives? Does selling weapons to the Iranians or allowing Palestinians to smuggle weapons into Gaza make Putin and Mubarak, respectively, "impressive"? Oh, I know. These leaders gave Olmert a hug when he met them.


Olmert said, "We need to talk. A real lot." Yes, Olmert needs to talk. With a psychologist. In therapy, he might be able to trace his emotionalism back to his parents, whose hearts he described as having been "conquered" by the Zionist idea.


And he might need more than a year in therapy, and lots of hugs, when he feels that, in their heart of hearts, most Israelis, as polls show, don't really like him.