Israel PM under fire as corruption probe widens
JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert faced mounting calls to resign and increased pressure from within his own party on Monday as the latest corruption probe into the embattled premier widened.
A senior minister from Olmert's centrist Kadima party warned that Israel's foes view the multiple corruption investigations into the premier's affairs as a "sign of weakness."
"Many of our enemies consider these affairs as a sign of weakness in Israel, and in my opinion security is the most important thing," Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz told public radio.
"Iran is trying to get a nuclear weapon, Hezbollah is rearming and the truce with Hamas is fragile. We have to prove that we are strong," said Mofaz, who is expected to run for Kadima's leadership in a September party vote.
Israeli media have been abuzz with speculation that Olmert's political career will soon be over in the wake of the latest corruption investigation to be launched against him.
Attorney General Menahem Mazuz meanwhile rejected suggestions that he might suspend the 62-year-old Olmert, telling The Jerusalem Post daily that it was not his job to "appoint prime ministers or dismiss them."
However, he said "the question of whether the prime minister, given his present circumstances of all the investigations and allegations against him, can continue to serve is a legitimate one."
Mazuz said that question had to be "answered by the prime minister himself, and by the public and political echelons."
Last week, under pressure from its coalition partner the Labour party, Kadima scheduled a leadership election for mid- or late September.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is viewed as front-runner, but former defence minister and army chief Mofaz is also jockeying for the top job, as are Public Security Minister Avi Dichter and Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit.
It remains unclear whether Olmert himself will run, but one Labour minister said last week that his party would pull out of the coalition if Olmert was a candidate -- a move that would effectively bring down the government.
However neither Kadima nor Labour wants early elections because both are outweighed by the conservative opposition Likud party in public opinion polls.
In the latest probe, Olmert was accused on Friday of having billed the state and various private organisations for the same airline tickets when he was Jerusalem mayor and trade minister.
He is also accused of using allegedly ill-gotten gains from the trips to finance private family travel in what the media have dubbed the Olmert Tours affair.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said on Monday that detectives were following up on new leads in New York, Washington and Las Vegas.
Olmert was questioned on Friday for the third time since May over allegations he illegally received tens of thousands of dollars from US millionaire financier Morris Talansky before he became prime minister in 2006.
The premier's lawyers are due to begin cross-examining Talansky on Thursday.
On a third front, Olmert's former secretary Shula Zaken was being questioned on Monday over allegations Olmert received a hefty discount on the price of a Jerusalem apartment in exchange for using his influence to get a developer permission to build on a historic site.
In the past, Zaken has consistently refused to answer police questions, claiming her right not to incriminate herself.
Olmert, who has adamantly denied all the allegations against him, has been in Paris for the launch of the Mediterranean Union and is due home on Monday night.
