Jews are pulling the strings of the Italian Prime Minister, Tony Blair,
and George Bush! When will real "democracy" come to America, the UK,
and Italy?
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyid...
Israeli TV catches Olmert "coaching" Italy's Prodi
Wed Dec 13, 2006 5:34 PM ET
By Dan Williams
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli pundits make much of Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert's powers of persuasion, but this was one bit of proof that he
might well have wanted to do without.
An Israeli television station broadcast candid footage on Thursday that
appeared to show Olmert, during his first official visit to Rome,
coaching Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi on what to say during
their joint press conference.
"It is im****tant that you emphasize the three principles of the Quartet
-- that they are not negotiated (sic). They are the basis for
everything," Olmert says, referring to Western demands that Hamas
Islamists who run the Palestinian government soften their views before
peace talks with Israel can begin.
"Please say this?" Olmert asks his nodding counterpart in English.
As it happened, Prodi did deliver words to that effect. He further
endorsed Israel's vision of remaining a Jewish state -- code for ruling
out an influx of Palestinian refugees. This, Channel 10 television
suggested, was also at Olmert's prodding.
"You said something about a Jewish state (in the past). I know that,"
Olmert is shown telling Prodi as the two confer in what looks like a
lounge in an Italian government complex.
While allies coordinating their rhetoric is nothing new in
international diplomacy, the unvarnished glimpse into Olmert's
back-room lobbying may prove a fresh embarrassment at home.
Before Rome, Olmert was in Berlin. That visit was marked by Israeli
furor at a German television interview in which he seemed to confirm,
in a reversal of a decades-old secrecy policy, that Israel has the
Middle East's only nuclear weapons.
An Olmert spokeswoman insisted he had not abandoned Israel's
"ambiguity" over its assumed arsenal, but that did not stop opposition
lawmakers of various political stripes from calling for his
resignation.
Olmert, a former lawyer and career politician, cuts a suave figure that
is dramatically different to that of his predecessor, Ariel Sharon. An
ex-general, Sharon was famous -- to his foes, notorious -- for often
preferring action over talk.
The inconclusive war against Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas, an
intractable Palestinian revolt, and arch-foe Iran's nuclear programme
have stirred resentment among many Israelis at Olmert's style, if
opinion polls are anything to judge by.
Olmert and Prodi aides had no immediate comment on the Channel 10
footage.
(Additional re****ting by Robin Pomeroy in Rome)
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