Is Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on the payroll of anti-Semites who gleefully pounce to prove their absurd notion that U.S. Jews and Israel control American foreign policy?

Of course not. Still, one wonders. Lambasted at home as “the worst prime minister ever,” the Israeli already faces pending indictments for multiple counts of corruption – assuming the country’s famously slow justice system comes through. Now he’s ensuring that American Jews remember him with great disdain as well.

On Monday and Tuesday this week, he wasted valuable time jockeying with State Department officials over allegations that he was proud to have “embarrassed” Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice.
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Mr. Olmert told an audience in Ashkleon that he persuaded President George W. Bush to override Dr. Rice’s preferred support of a U.N. resolution calling for an “immediate, durable and fully respected cease-fire, leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.”

The Israeli leader called President George W. Bush to ensure that the U.S. did not vote for the ceasefire resolution.

“I said: ‘Get me President Bush on the phone,’” he said during the speech. “They said he was in the middle of giving a speech in Philadelphia. I said I didn’t care: ‘I need to talk to him now.’ He got off the podium and spoke to me.”

Then, he added about Dr. Rice, “She was left pretty embarrassed.”

Do anti-Semites need any more help? It’s so easy to maliciously twist this into “proof” that Israel and American Jews control U.S. foreign policy.

For her part, Dr. Rice countered, “I had made very clear that I thought the resolution was premature, and there were also concerns about a resolution that had Israel, a member-state of the United Nations, and Hamas, which is a terrorist organization. You don’t ever want there to be any equating those two.”

For good measure, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack suggested that the Israeli government might want to clarify or correct the record.

He’s right. This isn’t how you treat friends. And frankly, a U.N. resolution is the least of Israel’s worries right now.

Sadly but not surprisingly, major American Jewish groups have been silent on the matter. They should speak out. Israel’s Prime Minister speaks for the Jewish state and we Diaspora Jews seek to help whoever is in that position. That includes being heard when such a leader acts wrongly. It’s how we do it that counts. We love Israel, but we’re not political puppy dogs. We are far beyond the days of “Israel right or wrong” – even when the State of Israel is at war.

For sure, anti-Semites will hate the State of Israel no matter what. That doesn’t mean we should give them fodder for their cereal gruel.

ADDENDUM: Olmert is supposed to resign when a new government is formed. That government failed to come into fruition in October when Kadima leader and Foreign Minister Tzippy Livni failed to woo the Sephardi Orthodox Party, which wanted a political bribe larger than she would pay. Thus, Olmert is in power for at least one month after the scheduled February 10 elections, the period needed to form a new coalition. But those elections are likely to be delayed due to the war. Thus, Mr. Olmert will have a chance to insult incoming Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as well.

Hey AF, as soon as the Palestinians stop tossing rockets and mortars and quiet things down, more Israeli Jews will want to get out of large chunks of the West Bank. There will be some international mointoring force with U.S. participation and some jointly manned positions with Israelis and Palestinians and the international force.

It’s coming whether you like it or not. It might take 5, 10 or 50 years, but it’s coming. Then Israel can get back to focusing on its Jewish identity and how it can help the Diaspora. That’s waht we need—when it’s safe enough to go ahead. So keep your eye on the end game. The vast majority of Jews worldwide will support that.

AF: The average Israeli also voted in a comatose Ariel Sharon who ran on a platform in part of future with Yehuda v’Shomron. Olmert was next in line and everyone knew that he would do the same.

Joel, the only thing Olmert worked on was trying to find something good, anything, so the world would remember him for something other than his failures.  His attempts at giving away Yehuda, the Shomron, and the Golan were not supported by the average Israeli on the street.

Disappointing, as I viewed Olmert as working hard to restore his reputation during his peace initiatives over the past year.  I expect the Obama administration not to tolerate this type of diplomacy.

How did this guy get to become prime minister? Oh yeah, the guy in front of him went into a coma. One imagines that not even a comatose Ariel Sharon would make this mistake. He worked hard to have strong ties with the United States—after his slip up of how Israel would not be America’s “Czechloslovakia”, referring to how the West ignored Hitler’s invasion of the Sudatenland.

I hope Ehud enjoys retirement.