This week the spokesperson for the National Fraud Squad, the police unit investigating Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Moris Talansky, Uri Messer and Shula Zaken on suspicions of financial impropriety, told The Jerusalem Post that none of the media reports over the past two weeks had emanated from the highly secretive unit. “You have no idea how tight we’re keeping this investigation,” she said. Even State Prosecutor Moshe Lador thinks the press reports about the affair are largely inaccurate. Still, the main news outlets in Israel come up with daily scoops quoting anonymous law enforcement officials speculating about which direction the investigation is heading towards. On Monday, one of the main papers led with a story quoting an anonymous source saying police were focusing their probe on Olmert’s tenure as Industry and Trade Minister in 2005. By the time the ink dried on that story in the afternoon, police had raided the Jerusalem Municipality for evidence linking then Mayor Ehud Olmert [1993 to 2003] to Moris Talansky.

One constant that is running through all the media however is the image of Uri Messer, Olmert’s long-time associate and friend, as the prime minister’s ‘dirty laundry guy’, his accounting henchman if you will. Ask the average Israeli what association enters his mind when he hears the name Uri Messer, and you will likely hear negativity on par only with Olmert himself. The public trusts politicians about as much as they like lawyers. Continue reading →