Israeli news "roundup"

I am going to make this post about a few interesting events that happened in Israel today, rather than a separate post for each..

(in no particular order)
1. Ehud Olmert cleared from bribery charges in relation to the price he sold his apartment for and the amount of rent he paid.
2. Bibi Netanayahu is victorious in his bid to wrench the power to elect Knesset reps from the hands of the Likud Central Committee.
3. Kadima slip in the polls continues.


Now to my rants on the above issues:

1. Ehud was cleared of the charges in relation to how much he paid in rent and how much he received for the sale of his apartment. The Comptroller clearly said that he did not investigate, nor clear Olmert of any other related charges in the matter, just the issue of the actual price. He said that despite the fact that Olmert paid rent at 60% of the apartments market value, it is considered within a reasonable range of pricing. I wonder how much of a discount is unreasonable?

2. Bibi wrenches control out of the hands of the Central Committee: This was clearly a good move all around. The Central Committee of the Likud already has developed a horrible reputation for itself. In the past, they have been involved in voting corruption and selling voting blocks to potential MKs. It is amazing that they would agree to vote to have the power taken out of their own hands, but that is exactly what they did. They still have power in other spheres of influence within the likud, such as determining functionaries and leadership over Likud organizations. The primaries, though, was one of the most powerful cards Central Committee members held, and they just gave it up to the people. It was a good move, and hopefully it will clean up the internal Likud politics a bit. Likud is expecting a nice jump in support after this turn of events.

3. Kadima slipping in the polls: While I am not one who believes in polls, especially so far away from the actual elections, they are interesting, and do provide a certain amount of an indication and barometer as to where things are heading.. In the latest polls, Kadima has continued slipping, at a slightly more accelerated pace, down to 37 seats. Don't forget, this is off a hig of as many as 45 seats with some polls having predicted up to 49-50 seats!). It seems the allure of Ariel Sharon is wearing off and Ehud Olmert does not have the same mojo that Sharon had. People are seeing through Olmert and realizing he does not actually have a plan, but is trying to react to events, and is doing so in conflicting manners. This is not the way of the strong leadership they had expected from Kadima and Sharon. Now they are seeing that Sharon's shoes were too big for Olmert to fill, and people are starting to leave for parties with real platforms and representatives, not just a conglomerate of MKs getting together hoping to attract everyone possible.

Oh yeah, one more thing. A stock I sold a few days ago (to cut my losses on it) just went up about 35% today..