"Israeli" PM to Step Down in September

Source: Alalam.ir, 30-7-2008
AL-QUDS--"Israeli" regime's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, roiled by corruption scandals, war-time failings and single-digit popularity ratings during his turbulent time in office, announced on Wednesday he would resign in September.
Since assuming office in 2006, Olmert has endured periods of dismal single-digit approval ratings -- historically the worst to blight a sitting "Israeli" premier -- and he himself once said he was "a very unpopular prime minister."
The 62-year-old has been challenging a graft probe alleging he had illegally accepted campaign funds in cash-stuffed envelopes from a US millionaire before he became prime minister in 2006.
The charges had brought a chorus of calls for him to resign, not only from the "Israeli" media and the right-wing opposition but from the ranks of his own fragile ruling coalition and even from within his own Kadima party.
Millionaire financier Morris Talansky, 75, shocked the country in May when he told a court he gave Olmert 150,000 dollars to fund, not only his political ambitions, but his taste for luxury hotels and fine cigars.
Olmert is the subject of five more police probes into suspected corruption involving potential conflicts of interest, fraudulent property transactions and abuse of power in connection with political appointments.
He also came under intense political pressure in April last year, when the interim findings of an inquiry into the handling of the Lebanon war accused him of "serious failure" but stopped short of calling on him to resign.