Ehud Olmert
Ehud Olmert
אהוד אולמרט
Prime Minister of Israel
In office
4 January 2006 – 31 March 2009
Acting to 14 April 2006*
President
Moshe Katsav
Shimon Peres
Deputy
Tzipi Livni
Preceded by
Ariel Sharon
Succeeded by Benjamin Netanyahu
Mayor of Jerusalem
In office
1993 – 2003
Preceded by
Teddy Kollek
Succeeded by Uri Lupolianski
Born
30 September 1945
(1945-09-30)
Binyamina, British Mandate
of Palestine
Political party Kadima
Spouse
Aliza Olmert
Religion
Judaism
*Under the Basic Laws of Israel, Olmert was
only the Interim Prime Minister of Israel
(distinct from both forms of Acting Prime
Ministers of Israel) from 14 April 2006 to 4 May
2006.[1]
Ehud Olmert (Hebrew: אהוד אולמרט
, IPA: [ɛˈhud
ˈolmeʁt]
(
listen), born 30 September 1945)
is an Israeli political figure, and former Prime
Minister of Israel having served from 2006 to
2009. Olmert was the mayor of Jerusalem
from 1993 to 2003. In 2003 he was elected to
the Knesset and became a minister and Act-
ing Prime Minister in the government of
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. On 4 January
2006,
after Sharon suffered a severe
hemorrhagic stroke, Olmert began exercising
the powers of the office of Prime Minister.
Olmert led Kadima to a victory in the March
2006 elections (just two months after Sharon
had suffered his stroke) and continued on as
Acting Prime Minister. On 14 April, two
weeks after the election, Sharon was de-
clared permanently incapacitated, allowing
Olmert to legally become Interim Prime Min-
ister. Less than a month later, on 4 May,
Olmert and his new, post-election govern-
ment were approved by the Knesset, thus
Olmert officially became Prime Minister of
Israel.
As Prime Minister, Olmert continued many
of Sharon’s policies, such as actively support-
ing the road map for peace and the two-state
solution. Olmert and his government enjoyed
healthy relations with the Fatah-led Palestini-
an National Authority, which culminated in
November 2007 at the Annapolis Conference.
On the other hand, during his tenure as
Prime Minister, there were major military