An Israeli parole board announced on June 29 that it had granted former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's request for early release. But the witch hunt over the last 10 days (well before the decision was made) raises some difficult questions about the motivation of the state attorney's office in its efforts to keep Olmert in prison for a few more months.
The state attorney did not immediately give up fighting to prevent his early release even after the parole board made its call. The office was actually about to appeal the decision, but public opposition to what seemed like a witch hunt was very intense. Luckily for Olmert, the pressure seemed to work, and the state attorney did give up. After a long, heated discussion and with the encouragement of Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, the state attorney's office decided to drop its appeal.
Olmert will be released on the morning of July 2 after serving 16 and a half months of his 26-month sentence for corruption. The envelopes of money that he received from businessman Moshe Talansky, his role in the Holyland real estate case and his attempts to interfere with legal proceedings are just some of the charges that were brought against him. The trials for these and other scandals went on for years and eventually forced him to resign as prime minister. He will always bear the mark of Cain as the first Israeli prime minister to go to prison. Despite his achievements and bold diplomatic initiatives, his legacy will always be marred by corruption.
Olmert's fall was nothing short of dramatic. He paid for his deeds with being put behind bars as the world watched and an abrupt end to his public life. He once had access to Israel's most sensitive secrets and was close friends with US President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. According to foreign news sources, he gave the order to destroy the Syrian nuclear reactor in 2007. He led Israel through the Second Lebanon War and Operation Cast Lead in Gaza. For him to be castigated and removed from society is itself an unbearable punishment.
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