Prime Minister Ehud Olmert gave several interviews to Israel’s newspapers in honor of the Passover holiday. The following are some excerpts:
On the Winograd Commission’s findings: “I think that the publication of the transcripts of the Winograd Committee is wrong.”
On the State Comptroller and his investigations against the PM: “What does [the present] have to do with what I did in the [Jerusalem] Municipality, or in the Ministry of Health or in the Ministry of Industry? He should - people should -scrutinize what I am doing in the Prime Minister's Office. There is not one single complaint against any of my performances in the Prime Minister's Office. It's all history. Is it not strange...?
Jerusalem Post: “You're not asserting that if you had done something that was corrupt or illegal in the past, it should be ignored because it's not from your current...?”
Olmert: “Who talked about illegal? I'm talking about the creations of a very tortured imagination of a person who set out for himself the target to remove the prime minister, on a personal basis. This is what we are talking about. He said this is his mission: To hit me. Like an asteroid.”
On prayer and low approval ratings: “My first year in government reminds me of the first year of [Ariel] Sharon and the first two years of Bill Clinton in the White House. Both of them moved dramatically up, after being very down for a very long time - similar to my position, maybe slightly better, but not very much. Eventually, they went up again, as did so many other politicians. When I pray every morning, I don't pray for the polls. I pray that God will give me the wisdom to take the right decisions. As long as I take the right decisions, I'll be all right in the polls.”
On the Second Lebanon War: “I knew there would be an abduction of a soldier - I didn't know the date, but I knew there would be an ambush; I knew they would shoot all across the North. It was just a matter of time. Therefore, we had long discussions about what would be the pattern of our reaction once it happened. And everything we did on the 12th of July we had contemplated, considered and analyzed before. And I am very happy with these decisions, for two reasons: We changed the equation in south Lebanon, and we gave ourselves the opportunity to examine our shortcomings and cope with them before it was too late.”
[…]
“The situation is not ideal. I'm not trying to tell you that the Syrians are not trying to smuggle arms into Lebanon or that the fact Hizbullah is still quite influential in the political system is something I like. I don't like it. But to ignore the enormous achievements of the army in the south of Lebanon, as a result of which there is not one single Hizbullah person who can surface with a gun in this entire area?… I'm happy, by the way, with the performance of UNIFIL. It's far better than we had anticipated. They are everywhere. Hizbullah doesn't have the flexibility and freedom to act that it would have wanted.”
[…]
“The strategy was to establish pressure that would create the involvement of international forces to force the army of Lebanon to take over the South. That was the purpose of the war.”
On appointing Amir Peretz Defense Minister and Haaretz's hypocrisy: "There is a great deal of hypocrisy and self-righteousness over this question. I know one newspaper that wrote an editorial calling on people to vote for him and stating that he should be appointed defense minister, and afterward the same paper wrote that the test of my leadership would be whether I would fire him. I am referring to [Haaretz,] the paper that the two of you work for. I hope that will remain in the interview."
On negotiations with the PA: "I believe that in the next five years, it is possible to arrive at a comprehensive peace agreement with the Arab states and the Palestinians. That is the goal. That is the effort, the vision."
On Mahmoud Abbas: “Abu Mazen promised he would not form a government if Shalit was not released. He told me that, he told Condi Rice that in my presence, he told [German Chancellor] Angela Merkel that. It's impossible to go on like this: Everything they commit to - to stop the terrorism, to fight terrorism, all these things ... How can you believe them when they don't fulfill anything?"
[…]
"After all, he is a person whom it is pleasant to meet with and talk to, very intelligent, and in his basic positions he is showing understanding that is approaching the foundation on which a political process can be constructed. There are two problems with him. One is that the stream he represents is a minority in the Palestinian state [sic], and the second is that he is not in control of the governmental machinery in a way that enables him to put into practice his approach against the other elements."
[..]
“[L]ast time he called me 'Abu Shaul, Abu Shaul.' How do you know that, I asked him. He says, 'You see, you call me Abu Mazen, because my son is named Mazen, and your son is Shaul [who advocated IDF soldiers refusing to serve in Judea, Samaria and Gaza –ed.], so I call you Abu Shaul.'”
On Marwan Barghouti: “Should [jailed Fatah terrorist] Marwan Barghouti expect an early release?” Haaretz asked.
Olmert: “No.”
On ending Kassam Fire: "We have time before getting to a military operation. That is not the first thing I am looking to do. Kassams were fired even when we were in Gaza and carried out large-scale operations. We can't get a solution just by pressing a button."
On unauthorized Jewish outposts: “Israel, in the final analysis, will evacuate the illegal outposts. It has to be part of a process in which the Palestinians fulfill their commitments. [That] will facilitate things for us, too.”
On withdrawals: “The philosophy [of Disengagement and Realignment] hasn't changed at all. What has changed are the political circumstances… The circumstances of this last year - not so much Lebanon, by the way, but rather Gaza - proved that maybe a unilateral process has its weaknesses, not just its advantages. I found out, and I have to be realistic, that maybe the weaknesses [revealed by] the unilateral action in Gaza [show a need for] greater caution…But the philosophy hasn't changed.”
On the relativity of the demographic threat: “You believe that one day they will undergo a transformation and start to fight terrorism?,” asked Haaretz.
Olmert: "If they don't transform themselves, don't fight terrorism and don't fulfill any of their other commitments, they will continue to live in never-ending chaos."
Haaretz: “But then demography will defeat us. Only a year ago you warned that it endangers the future of Zionism.”
Olmert: "At that time my role was to try to generate momentum in a different direction."
Olmert (to the Jerusalem Post): “I don't want to live with Palestinians forever. I don't believe that living with three million Palestinians, entangled with them in the way we are, will help the Jewish state any better. I don't think - if we continue to be right but to be engaged in a violent confrontation with them - that in the long run we will have the world on our side all the time. And my question is: What do I want Israel to be?”
On his overall achievements: "The people will ask themselves, ‘If [things are] so bad, how come the economy of Israel has grown so rapidly in the last couple of years? If it is so bad, how come unemployment is the lowest in 10 years?’... In the end, more people are now living with a little more fun, and in time I will get the credit for that."
On the Winograd Commission’s findings: “I think that the publication of the transcripts of the Winograd Committee is wrong.”
On the State Comptroller and his investigations against the PM: “What does [the present] have to do with what I did in the [Jerusalem] Municipality, or in the Ministry of Health or in the Ministry of Industry? He should - people should -scrutinize what I am doing in the Prime Minister's Office. There is not one single complaint against any of my performances in the Prime Minister's Office. It's all history. Is it not strange...?
Jerusalem Post: “You're not asserting that if you had done something that was corrupt or illegal in the past, it should be ignored because it's not from your current...?”
Olmert: “Who talked about illegal? I'm talking about the creations of a very tortured imagination of a person who set out for himself the target to remove the prime minister, on a personal basis. This is what we are talking about. He said this is his mission: To hit me. Like an asteroid.”
On prayer and low approval ratings: “My first year in government reminds me of the first year of [Ariel] Sharon and the first two years of Bill Clinton in the White House. Both of them moved dramatically up, after being very down for a very long time - similar to my position, maybe slightly better, but not very much. Eventually, they went up again, as did so many other politicians. When I pray every morning, I don't pray for the polls. I pray that God will give me the wisdom to take the right decisions. As long as I take the right decisions, I'll be all right in the polls.”
On the Second Lebanon War: “I knew there would be an abduction of a soldier - I didn't know the date, but I knew there would be an ambush; I knew they would shoot all across the North. It was just a matter of time. Therefore, we had long discussions about what would be the pattern of our reaction once it happened. And everything we did on the 12th of July we had contemplated, considered and analyzed before. And I am very happy with these decisions, for two reasons: We changed the equation in south Lebanon, and we gave ourselves the opportunity to examine our shortcomings and cope with them before it was too late.”
[…]
“The situation is not ideal. I'm not trying to tell you that the Syrians are not trying to smuggle arms into Lebanon or that the fact Hizbullah is still quite influential in the political system is something I like. I don't like it. But to ignore the enormous achievements of the army in the south of Lebanon, as a result of which there is not one single Hizbullah person who can surface with a gun in this entire area?… I'm happy, by the way, with the performance of UNIFIL. It's far better than we had anticipated. They are everywhere. Hizbullah doesn't have the flexibility and freedom to act that it would have wanted.”
[…]
“The strategy was to establish pressure that would create the involvement of international forces to force the army of Lebanon to take over the South. That was the purpose of the war.”
On appointing Amir Peretz Defense Minister and Haaretz's hypocrisy: "There is a great deal of hypocrisy and self-righteousness over this question. I know one newspaper that wrote an editorial calling on people to vote for him and stating that he should be appointed defense minister, and afterward the same paper wrote that the test of my leadership would be whether I would fire him. I am referring to [Haaretz,] the paper that the two of you work for. I hope that will remain in the interview."
On negotiations with the PA: "I believe that in the next five years, it is possible to arrive at a comprehensive peace agreement with the Arab states and the Palestinians. That is the goal. That is the effort, the vision."
On Mahmoud Abbas: “Abu Mazen promised he would not form a government if Shalit was not released. He told me that, he told Condi Rice that in my presence, he told [German Chancellor] Angela Merkel that. It's impossible to go on like this: Everything they commit to - to stop the terrorism, to fight terrorism, all these things ... How can you believe them when they don't fulfill anything?"
[…]
"After all, he is a person whom it is pleasant to meet with and talk to, very intelligent, and in his basic positions he is showing understanding that is approaching the foundation on which a political process can be constructed. There are two problems with him. One is that the stream he represents is a minority in the Palestinian state [sic], and the second is that he is not in control of the governmental machinery in a way that enables him to put into practice his approach against the other elements."
[..]
“[L]ast time he called me 'Abu Shaul, Abu Shaul.' How do you know that, I asked him. He says, 'You see, you call me Abu Mazen, because my son is named Mazen, and your son is Shaul [who advocated IDF soldiers refusing to serve in Judea, Samaria and Gaza –ed.], so I call you Abu Shaul.'”
On Marwan Barghouti: “Should [jailed Fatah terrorist] Marwan Barghouti expect an early release?” Haaretz asked.
Olmert: “No.”
On ending Kassam Fire: "We have time before getting to a military operation. That is not the first thing I am looking to do. Kassams were fired even when we were in Gaza and carried out large-scale operations. We can't get a solution just by pressing a button."
On unauthorized Jewish outposts: “Israel, in the final analysis, will evacuate the illegal outposts. It has to be part of a process in which the Palestinians fulfill their commitments. [That] will facilitate things for us, too.”
On withdrawals: “The philosophy [of Disengagement and Realignment] hasn't changed at all. What has changed are the political circumstances… The circumstances of this last year - not so much Lebanon, by the way, but rather Gaza - proved that maybe a unilateral process has its weaknesses, not just its advantages. I found out, and I have to be realistic, that maybe the weaknesses [revealed by] the unilateral action in Gaza [show a need for] greater caution…But the philosophy hasn't changed.”
On the relativity of the demographic threat: “You believe that one day they will undergo a transformation and start to fight terrorism?,” asked Haaretz.
Olmert: "If they don't transform themselves, don't fight terrorism and don't fulfill any of their other commitments, they will continue to live in never-ending chaos."
Haaretz: “But then demography will defeat us. Only a year ago you warned that it endangers the future of Zionism.”
Olmert: "At that time my role was to try to generate momentum in a different direction."
Olmert (to the Jerusalem Post): “I don't want to live with Palestinians forever. I don't believe that living with three million Palestinians, entangled with them in the way we are, will help the Jewish state any better. I don't think - if we continue to be right but to be engaged in a violent confrontation with them - that in the long run we will have the world on our side all the time. And my question is: What do I want Israel to be?”
On his overall achievements: "The people will ask themselves, ‘If [things are] so bad, how come the economy of Israel has grown so rapidly in the last couple of years? If it is so bad, how come unemployment is the lowest in 10 years?’... In the end, more people are now living with a little more fun, and in time I will get the credit for that."