Finance Minister Olmert, Israel's Acting Prime Minister, was the first to signal Ariel Sharon's leftward tilt, calling over 2 years ago for a withdrawal from most of Judea, Samaria and Gaza.
Aged 60, Olmert was born in a small town called Nachalat Jabotinsky near Hadera, of which his father was one of the founding members.
Married with four children, Olmert graduated Hebrew University, where he studied psychology, philosophy and law. He was a military correspondent for the IDF magazine BaMachaneh, and served in the 8th through the 14th Knessets (1974-1999) as a Likud MK, and again in the current Knesset, the 16th. He was Health Minister under Prime Minister Yitzchak Shamir in the early 1990s, and served in several Cabinet positions in the current government.
In 1993, then-MK Olmert ran against popular Teddy Kollek for the position of Mayor of Jerusalem, and defeated him. Olmert's campaign slogan was "Olmert - Because the Time Has Come" - a hint to Kollek's advanced age. This slogan was remembered with irony two weeks ago, after Olmert's new party leader - none other than Kadima founder Ariel Sharon - suffered a mini-stroke at the age of 77, prompting questions about Sharon's physical fitness to govern.
Olmert served simultaneously as a Knesset Member and Jerusalem Mayor for five years, until the late 1990s, but by the time his term in office had ended, the law had been changed and such double service was not permitted. He chose to give up his Knesset seat, running for and winning re-election, and continued in the mayor's office until 2003, when he ran again for Knesset.
He did not receive great support from the Likud membership, however, which chose him only to the 32nd slot on the list of Likud candidates; polls taken the week before the elections gave the Likud between 31-33 seats. In the event, the Likud won 38 seats, and Olmert became a Knesset Member once again.
Despite Olmert's poor showing, Prime Minister Sharon appointed him to the position of Minister of Industry and Trade, and more significantly, to that of Deputy Prime Minister - the position that has now made him Israel's Acting Prime Minister.
Ehud Olmert became the Likud's left-wing marker in late 2003, when he preceded Ariel Sharon's announcement of the planned disengagement from Gaza with an about-face of his own. In what was later viewed as the flying of a trial balloon for Sharon's new position, Olmert told the Yediot Acharonot daily that he favored a unilateral withdrawal from nearly all of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, including the uprooting of almost all the Jewish communities there.
Olmert all but agreed that the only differences between his approach and that of the left-wing were that it would "sear his heart" to give up parts of the Land of Israel, and that he would not give up the Temple Mount and the Old City of Jerusalem.
Olmert's positions of the last two years thus contrasted strongly with his previous ideology, as he grew up in an atmosphere of love for the entire Land of Israel. His father Mordechai was an MK of the 3rd and 4th Knessets, a founder of Betar in Harbin China, a founder of two towns in the Land of Israel, and Head of the Settlement Department of the Herut Movement.
Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin, who also grew up in a Herut-party home, expressed disgust at Ehud Olmert's new positions. Rivlin said at the time that Olmert reminded him of the absolute turnabout of his hareidi-turned-secular cousins: "When they became not religious, they went all the way - not only driving on the Sabbath, but also eating pig."
In November 2003, Trade Minister Olmert antagonized the nationalist camp with his decision to facilitate the European Union's taxation of Yesha-made goods by ordering the city of manufacture to be listed on every Israeli product.
With the announcement that Olmert had been named Acting Prime Minister, the Shabak (General Security Service) immediately increased security around him. The area around his home in Jerusalem has been declared a "sterile" area.
Olmert spoke briefly with reporters late Wednesday night, saying only that he was "very very sad," and that he would go to his office the next morning to run the affairs of state. Olmert will convene a Cabinet meeting at 9 AM, facing a political situation unprecedented in Israeli history - a minority government run by a member of a party in formation with elections less than 12 weeks away, among other question marks.