Kadima should remove pictures of former prime minister Ehud Olmert from the walls of its party branches, Kadima MK Marina Solodkin wrote in a letter to the party’s current head, opposition leader Tzipi Livni. Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz announced his indictment of Olmert on Sunday in three separate corruption investigations. The only Kadima MK who issued a statement supporting Olmert following the indictment was Yoel Hasson, while others privately expressed embarrassment.
Solodkin wrote Livni that she felt uncomfortable when she met with Kadima activists on Sunday at the party’s Yerushalayim branch. She said she was shocked to see that a massive picture of Olmert was still on the wall.
“Olmert was the first prime minister in the history of the state of Israel to be indicted,” Solodkin wrote. “Hanging a picture of Olmert in Kadima branches gravely harms the party’s image in the eyes of its activists and the general public.”
Solodkin added that a party that wanted to raise the banner of clean governance cannot allow itself to display pictures of Olmert.
When Solodkin raised the matter in a speech at Tel Aviv’s Shevah Mofet High School in Livni’s presence, Livni said Olmert had not been convicted and she did not want to interfere with the legal process surrounding the former prime minister. Her spokesman declined to comment further.
A source close to Olmert responded mockingly to the respected legislator who specializes on social issues by saying: “Who are you, Marina Solodkin, and what have you done for the country?”
{JPost/Yair Alpert-Matzav.com Israel}
