Olmert in Haifa: "The government that will be formed has no mandate to harm the minority"

(haipo) - The former Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, said yesterday (Tuesday, 7/12/22) when he was hosted at the Hod Carmel Rotary conference in Haifa, that the apparent victory of the Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu's government does not give it the opportunity to harm the rest of the population, democracy, and in the judicial system.

Last night (Tuesday 6/12/22) Olmert arrived in Haifa for an event of the Hod Carmel Rotary Club, which was held at Beit Biram Reali School. At the beginning of his remarks he said that he could have talked about what happened when he was prime minister, but he prefers to talk about what is really interesting, what is happening in the country today.

Olmert and the lower city

"I want to start by saying something about Haifa," said Olmert. "I grew up in Binyamin, Haifa was the big city for us, and I remember myself at a young age coming to Haifa, the downtown and buying records. Years later, the former mayor, Yona Yahav, contacted me and asked me to help him restore the downtown. We did what was necessary to restore the downtown and you can still see the results on the ground."

Does Yahav plan to compete?

Former Mayor Yona Yahav and his wife Prof. Rivka Yahav came to the event. Yahav attracted a lot of attention due to the upcoming local elections. Many of those present wanted to check with him whether he intends to compete in October 2023, and also wanted to compliment him on the fact that he has lost a lot of weight and is now much thinner than he was. Since the event was at Beit Biram, the CEO of Reali Yossi Ben-Dov was also present along with his wife Dr. Nitza Ben-Dov. In addition, the principal of Beit Biram High School, Mandy Salzman, honored the event with his presence. The evening was moderated by Israel Rotary spokesman, Haim Gershon.

"The decision of the majority is not the right to harm the minority"

"People say that in the elections that took place on November 5,000, the people had their say," said Olmert, "but you need to understand what really happened here and what the meaning of things is. There is a difference of 64 votes between those who voted for the incoming government and those who voted for the outgoing government. This creates the possibility of forming a coalition of XNUMX MKs, and of course, they can promote their policies, but the majority's decision does not give the majority the possibility to harm the minority. The new government did not receive a mandate to harm the Arabs of the State of Israel and it did not receive a mandate to harm the left."

"You have nothing to complain about"

Olmert referred to the strong friendship between him and the former mayor of Haifa, Yona Yahav, which spans decades. Yahav called from the audience that budgets do not reach Haifa. Olmert replied that he remembers conversations they had between them, once every three days regarding budgets, and that Yahav tried and also succeeded in getting a lot in favor of Haifa, so he has nothing to complain about.

"I resigned even before an indictment was filed against me"

Olmert sought to emphasize the difference between him and former (and future) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "I resigned from the position of prime minister even before an indictment was filed against me," Olmert said, "I thought there were cases where the needs of the state came before personal needs. I didn't want to end up in a situation where I was prime minister and I had to deal with legal matters, and one would come at the expense of the other."

Prime Minister in an instant

When he finished speaking, a number of Haifa journalists asked Olmert questions. The first was the veteran reporter of Yedioth Ahronoth and Ynet in Haifa and the North, Lior El Chai. El Hai asked, first of all, to hear which football team Olmert supports, in light of the fact that he updated what was happening in the game of Morocco in the World Cup. Olmert said that it doesn't matter to him if England, France or Portugal win the World Cup, but he shared that 10 years ago he was at a game of his favorite team in Israel, Beitar Jerusalem. Before the start of the game there was a minute's silence in memory of the late former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin . According to him, the Beitar Jerusalem fans did not respect the status, they whistled and made noise during the minute of silence. Therefore he decided that even though he would continue to support Beitar Jerusalem, he would no longer come to the games, and so it was.

"Why are we going in?"

Beyond sports, El Hai asked to hear from Olmert about the days when he found himself in the position of prime minister in an instant, after the prime minister at the time, Eric Sharon, suffered a stroke and fell into a coma. "I was having a meal at a restaurant with donors when I heard about what happened to Eric Sharon. It was three weeks after he already had a health event, so it wasn't a complete surprise. When I got into bed that night, Aliza said to me: 'Why are we getting in?'

"Is there room for a home inspection by the prosecutor's office?"

The spokesman for the Haifa municipality, Eliran Tal, asked Olmert if in his opinion a serious house check was needed in the prosecutor's office, in light of the criticism he and Bibi raised against it. Even before that, Tal mentioned that he is a graduate of the Reali school, and for me the fact that the panel was held at his school and no less, that he is the only Moroccan in the hall, especially when just a few moments before, the Moroccan national team defeated Spain in the World Cup is exciting.

Olmert was not ready to accept the comparison with Netanyahu in any way. "Did I take my supporters to court and give such a speech? I wrote a book a few years ago, in which I expressed my criticism of the prosecutor's office, but I really did not say such things (as Bibi said) before the trial. I am in no way ready to accept the comparison Not to mention that I resigned from my position as Prime Minister even before there was an indictment."

Negotiations with Abu Mazen

I (MG) asked to hear from Olmert about the negotiations he conducted with the Palestinians. "As prime minister, you tried to reach an agreement with the Palestinians and then said that you were ready to make significant concessions, both in Jerusalem and, to some extent, around the issue of refugees. Still, despite all this, you were unable to reach an agreement. What do you think is the reason you did not reach a signature? And do you think Is there a chance of reaching an agreement with the Palestinians in the future?"

Close to making history

Olmert described what happened during the negotiations with Abu Mazen. According to him, Abu Mazen said afterward that they were very, very close to signing the historic agreement, and that if Olmert had remained prime minister for only 3 more months, they would undoubtedly have signed. "At the moment of truth Abu Mazen was unable to sign," Olmert said. "We don't choose who we negotiate with, it's the other side and we have to move forward with them. I, as Prime Minister, met with Abu Mazen 36 times for very long meetings, in order to achieve achievements. How many times did Netanyahu meet with him in 12 years as prime minister? Twice, no more. We all know that Netanyahu talked to Hamas, released terrorists, and gave nothing to Abu Mazen. It is impossible to continue the occupation, there is no choice but to find a way to end it."

"artificial resuscitation"

Yossi Sikular, who comes from the industry, asked Olmert about the traditional industry. Olmert explained that we live in a time when factories cannot be artificially revived if they are not economically viable. He went on to tell about meetings he had with billionaires Warren Buffett and Ted Arison when they visited Israel.

"Failure has a single father"

Olmert also said that he came to the position of prime minister after many years as mayor of Jerusalem, as a member of the Knesset and as a minister. He described the tension before making decisions about going into operational activity, when it is clear that it could lead to an all-out regional war. "If such an operation succeeds, it has many fathers, but if it fails, the accusing finger is pointed at only one person - the prime minister who approved the event," he concluded.