Senior members of Israel’s ruling Kadima Party voiced solidarity with Ehud Olmert despite his legal woes.
Olmert convened his Kadima faction Sunday for a closed-door discussion of party strategy amid a police investigation into the prime minister’s finances.
Olmert’s announcement last week that he would resign if indicted in the case prompted speculation that his Kadima rivals could try to topple him, but Cabinet ministers from the centrist party were at pains to show they were closing ranks.
“The prime minister has the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty,” said Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz, according to political sources. “We must allow him to keep running the country.”
Similar sentiments were sounded by Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit, Construction Minister Zeev Boim and Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter.
Notably silent, however, was Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who by law would succeed Olmert if he were to step down.
The prime minister has denied wrongdoing in his ties to Morris Talansky, an American fund-raiser at the heart of an Israeli police probe of bribery suspicions.
“I have no reason to doubt in the proper functioning of the police and State Attorney’s Office,” Olmert told his faction Sunday.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
