Publication of Ehud Olmert's Memoirs: 'The First Person' in Israel

Ehud Olmert, the former Prime Minister of Israel who spent two-thirds of his 19-month prison sentence in jail despite his old age, has recently published his memoirs, in which he harshly attacks his political rivals, especially during the last decade of his political career. Olmert's memoirs also include his diary entries from his time in prison; he was released from prison last July and published his book titled in Hebrew 'Bagof Rishon' or 'The First Person.' Olmert, who succeeded Ariel Sharon, the former Prime Minister and his closest friend among Israeli politicians, wrote his autobiography while in prison. In this book, he directs some of the harshest criticisms towards Ehud Barak, who was the Minister of Defense during Sharon's government. Israeli media refers to the conflict between the two Ehuds as the 'Ehud A vs. Ehud B war.' According to Olmert, Barak led the Labor Party, the oldest party in Israel, to collapse due to weak leadership, and when he found no place in the political arena, he 'begged' Olmert in 2006 to allow him to join the party under his leadership. At that time, Kadima was the main ruling party led by Olmert. Olmert wrote that he sent Barak 'to hell' after witnessing his 'helplessness' in joining Kadima. Regarding Tzipi Livni, who became the leader of Kadima after him, Olmert wrote that despite many claims, she was practically devoid of decision-making ability and was a weak politician who left nothing of Kadima's successes until the party fell into the hands of Shaul Mofaz, a powerful general but a severely weak politician, leading to its collapse. In his book, despite many criticisms of Benjamin Netanyahu, the current Prime Minister, Olmert states that all those who might lead the country after him are like Netanyahu, and there is no difference between them. Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who was freed after five and a half years of captivity by Hamas in a deal between Netanyahu's government and Hamas, also did not escape Olmert's sharp criticisms in his memoirs. Olmert wrote that Shalit is not a hero or a role model; he was not even a good soldier and warrior and could not take care of his own life; so how could such a person be a role model for fighters? Gilad Shalit was freed in exchange for the release of 1,019 Palestinian security prisoners from Hamas captivity. Olmert holds Barak responsible for 'emboldening Hamas' to accept the release of such a large number of prisoners in exchange for one soldier. The 34-day military operation between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006 was also one of the significant events during Olmert's premiership, which he elaborates on in his memoirs. Olmert's memoirs regarding the Israeli army's bombing of Syria's nuclear facilities in September 2007 were censored at the time of the book's publication. However, just a few days after the book's release, the Israeli army officially took responsibility for the attack on the nuclear reactor in Deir ez-Zor, Syria, and Yedioth Ahronoth immediately published Olmert's personal notes from the weeks leading up to the decision to bomb the Syrian reactor separately. Olmert wrote: 'On March 1, 2007, I had a routine working meeting with Meir Dagan, the then-head of Mossad. After that, several other Mossad officials entered the room; we discussed more information that Mossad and the military intelligence had gathered regarding suspicious Syrian nuclear activities and how to address it. Our information came from various sources and many of our intelligence agencies were bothering us; although Iran's affairs were at the center of Mossad's and military intelligence's activities, I provided the necessary guidance through a sensitive channel to address this matter.' In Olmert's memoirs dated March 13, 2007, he wrote: 'This morning, Meir Dagan himself called and urgently requested to see me to give me a vital piece of information... When I arrived in my office, Meir Dagan and his deputy, Tamir Pardo, and Amnon Sofrin, the head of Mossad's intelligence section, were waiting for me; Dagan's face was troubled; it was clear to me that... something unusual had happened. Dagan reported that the secret of all the intelligence materials that had been gathered had been discovered, and there was no doubt that the Syrians had built a nuclear reactor with plutonium fuel in Deir ez-Zor in northeastern Syria.' According to Olmert, 'Dagan did not speak much anymore; there was no need; silence prevailed in the room... When I was alone, I asked myself how the Syrians had built a nuclear reactor under our noses and our intelligence agencies had no idea. But I pushed the thought back; time was passing, and I had to act calmly and prepare all the complex systems to deal with this disturbing challenge without making a mistake... I issued the necessary orders for our actions to remain secret; the Syrians must not understand that we had become aware...' By Olmert's order on the night between September 5 and 6, 2007, Israeli Air Force fighter jets bombed and destroyed the Syrian nuclear reactor; this was considered one of the most important decisions of his premiership. Despite this, Olmert faced a wave of media accusations at the time that he had committed bribery when he was the mayor of Jerusalem. Olmert resigned late in 2008, about three years after taking office, while no indictment had been issued against him. He was later tried for accepting a $15,000 bribe and sentenced to 19 months in prison. One-third of the final part of Olmert's sentence was pardoned due to 'good behavior in prison,' and he was released last summer. In his memoirs, Olmert wrote that like any other prisoner, he did every task assigned to him, from cleaning the floor to working in the kitchen, and he had no complaints.