Olmert hints will be 'very involved' in elections

Speaking at San Francisco conference former PM alludes he will take active part in 2013 campaign

Itamar Eichner |Published: 11.09.12 , 09:16

Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Thursday that he intends to become "very involved in the attempts to replace the government" in Israel.

Olmert, whose possible return to politics has been the focus of growing speculation, was speaking as a Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco conference.

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The former prime minister reiterated statements made during other appearances in the United States over the past week, in which he leveled harsh criticism against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's polices.

Olmert blamed Netanyahu for "breaking the rules" with his attempts to intervene in the US presidential elections, saying he damaged US-Israel relations.

"President Obama was a friend of Israel before he was elected and will remain so now… But after what Netanyahu has done in the past few months – it needs to be asked whether the prime minister has a friend in the White House? I'm not sure," Olmert said on Sunday.

Speaking at the JCF conference on Thursday, Olmert said that he disagrees with the manner in which Netanyahu is handling of the Iranian threat: "Iran is a threat to the entire free world, not just Israel and we must harness everyone to deal with this problem – it would be a mistake to have Israel shoulder the burden all by itself.

"This position is backed by all the experts and the heads of the defense establishment in Israel – previous ones and current ones. I'm glad that the prime minister found out that the timetable is a little more flexible that he first stated and that there's time until next summer," he said.

"I hope that after adopting the international community's strategies and time table (Netanyahu) will also adopt the strategy of international collaboration to deal with the matter," Olmert said.