I fully agree. Olmert has been an absolute disaster as Prime Minister and even if this Gaza episode ends well for Israel, that cannot be forgotten.

I tend to believe Olmert, although he may have exagerated a bit ..... He probably came to dislike Ms Rice which is certainly understandable & wanted to ''stick it to the bitch'' on the way out since it no longer matters very much. But this is no major diplomatic issue & trust me, worse revelations will come to the surface later, as they always do. Everyone writes their memoirs, usually quite self-serving, & this will just be a little part of one of them.

i can only hope that the us administration realizes just how much outside the israeli consensus this overgrown upstart is. his deeds have only made me love two ladies more: rice because she is now a partner to the Israeli public disdain for an unscrupulous Machiavellian crook, and livni. we seem to have forgotten that udi's remark was aimed at livni who said (whether true or not) that HER call to rice was the reason for the turnabout. if he hates her so much that he can afford to launch into political shit in the middle of a war, there must be very good reason for everyone else to want her.

THIS OLMERT OUTBURST ONLY SHOWS THAT HE HAS HIMSELF IN MIND HIS EGO ONLY HE IS NOT A DIPLOMATE AT HEART NOT A PEACE MAKER ONLY A SELFISH EGOTISTICAL NOTHING. THAT NEVER HAD ISRAEL IN THE RECESSESS OF HIS HEART.. HIS EGO IS THERE INSTEAD. THIS WAS UNCALLED FOR. EVEN IF TRUE..THAT IS CONFIDENTIAL, NATIONAL SECURITY AND CHESS MOVES ARE AT RISK THANKS DACON9 jewswithviews@gmail.com

The conversation has certainly been recorded . One day , professors in diplomacy science , will explain to us the very smart and intelligent Olmert's decision to talks about the call.

The winds have been slowly changing in Washington towards Israel since 2005 when the policy-makers found Iraq to be an utter and bloody disaster and all the proponenets (and even liars for) the war were 110% pro-Israel supporters too. Many of these doubters have been heavily influential on Obama's team. Olmert's stupid act couldn't have come at a worse time for Israel-US relations.

She needed a good scolding but not in the manner Olmert did it. There have been plenty of occasions to let Rice know she's been out of line. Instead, Olmert is seen to a puerile boaster, in that he openly exults he pushed the Bush administration into doing something it did not wish to do. Condoleezza Rice is clearly not Miss Popular in pro-Israel circles -- rather she is more often than not perceived to be the b-tch who simply will not go away nor let up -- all the while Mr. Bush is "Israel's best friend ever!" To be fair, Dr. Rice is doing and saying what her boss wants her to do and say. The U.S. is not a friend nor an ally to Israel in the strict sense of the term. America looks out for what are her perceived self(ish) interests in the region. Nevertheless, Mr. Olmert might have handled this affair far better than he did.

SHOULD BE ASHAMED FOR TALKING LIKE THIS IN PUBLIC. WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIM.

Was it stupid of Olmert? Sure. But neither her nor the bush administration will be in power come Feb. 10. Within a period of three weeks both countries will have a change of administration. Further, we don't know how much of this is just both sides blowing off steam and the media amping it for all its worth. Add in that Bush is staying out of it and that the State Department has never gotten on as well with Israel as the White House has, and I don't think we should be overly concerned about it. The real question is how Bibi and Hillary get along.

Obama & Clinton think Bush/Rice have been disasterous for US. They insisted on Gaza vote, bringing in Hamas and that Israel leave Philadelfi corridor. Olmert may well be making point that Israel is intent on seeing to its own best interests and US must realize this. No more bombs on Israel nor caving in to terrorists. Rice obviously had egg on her face at Un vote and gave pathetic reason for abstaining. Israel demands to kow what safeguards it will have first. No more EU monitors running at first problem nor UNIFIl

Olmert is at his best when his mouth is shut.

and may she go you know where - she has only been a pain in the behind to Israel - an arrogant and unintelligent woman.

he could belt him, and so could she. they'd probably both prefer livni (who could probably belt bibi as well... so can my grandma). btw, it should be quite simple to figure out: if bush was called out of a press conference, as udi says (my grandma could belt him too, and the sooner she does, the better), then bush leaving unexpectedly should be on tape.

The important problen ts not whether Olmert made the call to Bush, but that he should NOT have made it public

Rice is a truly awful Stateswoman,she has caused much harm to Israel by her arrogance and her lack of knowledge.She should disappear for Eternity.

Although one can only guess as to his reasons.Perhaps he was sick of the condescending school-mistress attitude of Rice?

because as a war(II)-loving, lying and corrupt politician he represents Israel more than anything else.

Olmert's still here? The door must have hit him on the way out. He just keeps a-hanging around. I fully expect Olmert to do a Putin after the end of his term and create a special position just for himself so he can continue to rule the country from behind the scenes.

First of all, even if everything you said were true, none of what you said would make Israel responsible for the US' decision to go to war in Iraq, only a convenient scapegoat. This was confirmed by the fact that American officials are on record as saying that Ariel Sharon warned Bush AGAINST the toppling of Saddam's regime, saying it would only benefit Iran. But what you said is not true. Some of the neo-con proponents of the Iraq war were anything but "110% pro-Israel supporters". One case in point is Paul Wolfowitz who, despite being a Jew, has made scathing criticisms of the Jewish state. If you feel that way about Israel, no one is forcing you to stay.

Therefore, if, as you say, Olmert is a "war-loving, lying, and corrupt politician", then like a vaccine, he is perfectly suited to take on Israel's enemies.

If there was any doubt at all, this latest incident proves that America is a pathetic slave to Israel. That's been the case since Israel deliberately attacked the USS Liberty in 1967 and the US did nothing to defend the honour of its dead and wounded. However, all good things come to an end, and the end of Israeli domination over America's foreign policy will be hastened by such arrogant behaviour as Olmert displayed. Mr. Prime Minister, why risk waking the US Giant from his deep slumber? He may actually decide to act in America's best interests, instead of being lead around by the nose by an aggressive, self-centred little bully, with whom he enjoys a "special relationship."

If that helps to remove the likes of her from the world stage, then all power to Olmert. It puts the other pressure putters on notice that they can also be publicly humiliated by Israel in the place and time of Israel's choosing - and that should serve as a deterrent to these antisemites (Blair, Solana etc)

Olmert has been a huge negative for Israel and his arrogance won't be missed. Good riddance.

You folks here in the TBs from Israel are so utterly confused!! The PM who is in charge of this country has just made a rude and uncalled for attack on the biggest ally Israel has...once the Obama admin takes over, all these actions (war, killing, rude talk) will come back to haunt the Israeli people. And for what, an election!!!?? Geez if things don't change you will feel the winds of change and they will ot be blowing in favor of Israel!!! For those uneducated people here who think Rice is not smart...she's the one who will be teaching at Stanford when she done work for her ignorant boss. Livni can't and will never match up to Rice!! To you idiot people here...keep showing the world just how rude and racist the majority of Israeli's are.... Ehud Barak...well there's NOTHING to say about him...except that Obama will school him!!!!

Thankfulyy she will be gone soon, but Obama is the real danger.

We will rid ourselves of this imcompetent crook?

This shameful incident by our PM is either a lie or a delusion. Perhaps the Knesset should remove him from office permanently on grounds of mental instability thus mitigating the potential harm he caused to the relations between the US and Israel.

olmert is good at buying real estate in Jerusalem ... olmert is good at manipulating airline expenses... olmert is good at ...Cyprus dealings olmert was really BAD at leading Israel against hiz in Leb II ... at his WORST in maintaining a diplomatic relationship with the USA , Israel's most important friend. thankfully olmert is finished . I hope he serves some time in jail. Moshe

The US congress is pro-Israel and the State Dpt is pro-Arab. Rice tried to screw Israel after Annapolis, and maybe Olmert thought she was trying again. Big deal. There are slightly more important things happening at the moment. .and Olmert is doing a good job with Gaza. Now round up the Gaza leadership starting with Haniyeh. . swap him for Shalit... and put a cork in Ehud Baraks mouth. Stop apologising.