It's inconceivable to think that all these "worthies", Olmert, Deri, Hirchson and their ilk should go back to running the contry. No more criminals in the Knesset.

Stay out of politics!

ask the 1 million south israelis if they want olmert back who did nothing for msot of his term to smash hamas. Ask the families of 150 dead that olmert needlessly let happen for starting a war without proper preparation and then screwing up the strategy. and for pick peretz to be defence minister tells you all you need to know.

Btw. at least Ehud Olmert knew well how to make a good PR image of Israel worldwide.

even thinks of return to politics, and some people support him. Crooks, indeed, stay away from public life. We do need a cleansed arena in which to conduct our public affairs. P.S. The same is true about any political figure: left, right or center.

is formed and decided upon according to the normative conduct of the general populice. Passive agreement, tolerance, accepted convention are the components of this ethos. The people make and only the people can break.

Both detecting it an dealing with it, it no worse than anywhere else. No reason it should be a hindrance to ability. With only 8 million people you can be too hardline.

not for my kids, or grandchildren, or great grand children...or for me either.

In the ONLY democracy in the ME, the only Jewish state in the world, there MUST be a talented person whose morality is beyond question whether they are President, PM, DM... The question is, is Oldemerde one of those indelible persons...oy!

I left the Likud years ago because of slimy people like Olmert, and celebrated the day most of them jumped boat and formed Kadima - a party that had more crooks in it than a good sized jail. I refused to vote for any party that allows such slime balls in it, and hope most Israelis feel the same!

If the crooks kept out of politics, the Kenessest would be empty, you and I both know it. But for some reason, it seems the author wants to differentiate between those who have been caught and those who have not been caught. But that is the price we 'honest' citizens must pay to live in ANY country,

belong in jail and NOT in politics. a well written article.

Olmert was found guilty of "breach of public trust" why and how in the world can the court allow him to re-enter anything where public trust is concerned? I think Israel needs to get a totally new gov't, so many of the members are lacking morals and are not fit to be in govt. Why do the names in the Israeli gov't just stay the same...Shimon Peres is not the one who should be president, Barak was voted out of his gov't position, as was Shimon Peres and many others. Israel needs to clean up its act and make those in gov't models for citizens, not the criminal elements which should be looked down upon as we would anyone else who committed a felony. What is wrong with the Israelis that they don't think this is something to be looked into and corrected.

Your the biggest crook of all olmert

Especially in Israel, where the notion of theft in the name of God is endemic.

You should blame the idiots who are willing to vote for them. The crooks will ALWAYS take whatever they can and that is why they are called crooks. the ones who are willing to vote for them are called shmucks

Second Lebanon War and Gaza Op make Israel look good?

AND THE CROOK OLMERT IS FIRST IN LINE.

Do not show up at the ballot box. Do not cast a vote on election day. This is the only way to send a message that we are fed up with the rotten system and all the criminals and thieves that are part and parcel of it.

Judge Amnon's proposition goes a lot deeper. Israel , in the opinion of many western residents or Olim is a corrupt state. They numb to that fact, and tend to laugh it off; Welcome to Israel, they parrot, and smile But corruption corrodes, and has twice led to destruction of the state. You can't take on the world, is a stock answer, or you can't fight everybody. I do not accept what I see in Israel that is not right. More should make efforts to say no to wrongdoing and do something about it. That will lead to better social justice and a better civilised society. Judge Amnon,Bravo

Once disohonest, always dishonest, would you put a rapist back among women or a pedophile among children? How can we even think of allowing Olmert to get back into public office? how can he be trusted again? How many times has Clinton been caught philandering? did he stop? was he contrite? o, i know, it wasn't him, it was the cigar. the point is. a leopard can not change his spots.

However, here in the United States, we are suffering from the most corrupt, lying politician I've ever seen: Obama the Muslim! We are definitely scratching the bottom of the barrel with this godless loser!!! Olmert must come from the same barrel. With sleazy politicians, they all smell, to high-heaven, like the rotten fish they are!!!

As the Knesset stands today there are 12 parties but only 3 of them exist to run the country as a whole the rest exist to join coalitions and prostitute their votes in exchange the government supports their cause. Be it arab, religious, Liberman non of them are there to run the country. The coalition system split the vote which is bad for democracy because the difference between the largest party can jet be 3-4 seats. If at the next election Lapid finished in the high teens & the winning party got low-mid twenties that means a man who formed a party because he wanted to be a politician has a huge input in policy making & can kill good legislation if he doesn't like it. Olmert will probably form his own party because he wants to get back into politics. Israeli politicis is full of comeback kids some crooked others not. We need a system of 3-4 parties and winner takes all for a fixed term.

A person has to be a good liar and a criminal record of some sort, and if they havent got one, be ready to get one!