Witness grilled in Olmert bribery case

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's lawyers questioned a US businessman at the center of a corruption case for a second day on Friday, challenging his memory about funds he raised and accusing him of lying.

"You are inventing a story and I pity you," Eli Zohar, one of Olmert's lawyers, told Morris Talansky in the Jerusalem District Court.

Talansky, 75, said there may be lapses in his memory "here or there" but he stood by his testimony in a case that could force Olmert out of office.

Appearing tired and sometimes exasperated during a second consecutive day in court, Talansky appealed for the questioning to end on Sunday, two days earlier than planned.

But the court rejected the request.

A New York-based fundraiser for various Israeli organizations, Talansky testified in May that he had given $150,000 in cash-stuffed envelopes to Olmert, the former Jerusalem mayor, over a 15-year period.

Both Olmert and Talansky have denied any wrongdoing.

Olmert, who has been playing up prospects for peace with the Palestinians, has described the funds as legal contributions to election campaigns before he became prime minister in 2006. He has said he would resign if indicted.

Olmert's lawyers have focused on poking holes in Talansky's statements to investigators and aim to show that he is not a reliable witness against the prime minister.

Zohar challenged Talansky on Friday on whether donors gave cash or cheques at fundraising meetings.

In his testimony in May, Talansky said that cash and cheques were given. On Friday, he told the court only cash was given.

"Again, the lie," Zohar responded at one point.

Talansky said his accounts in general were accurate.

"This is over a 10 year period and you ask me to remember every part?" Talansky asked.

The next court session will be on Sunday.

Olmert's own party, Kadima, has begun the process of replacing him. It has scheduled a leadership election for September, under pressure from its main coalition partner, the Labour Party, to get rid of Olmert.

Olmert has pledged to conduct the government's business as usual, despite many Israelis feeling that he will have to step down and speculation about a general election as early as November.

Last week, Olmert, who has been questioned three times by police, was stung by a new set of corruption allegations.

Police said they were investigating suspicions that Olmert made duplicate claims for overseas travel expenses while serving as Jerusalem's mayor and trade minister. His lawyers said he had done nothing wrong.

Alleged plot against Bush

Israel accused six Arabs on Friday of trying to set up an al Qaida cell in Israel and said one of them had proposed attacking helicopters used during a visit by US President George W. Bush.

Israel's Shin Bet counter-intelligence agency said one of the suspects had used his mobile phone to film helicopters at a sports stadium in Jerusalem that was used as a landing site for Bush's delegation.

The suspect then posted queries on websites frequented by al Qaida operatives, asking for guidance on how to shoot down the helicopters, the agency said in a statement.

Bush visited Israel in January and again in May.

Lawyers for the six suspects could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Shin Bet identified four of the suspects as Palestinian residents of Arab East Jerusalem and two as Israeli Arabs.

The Shin Bet said the men had met several times at Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque, seeking to organize a local al Qaida network. The agency said computers seized from several of the suspects contained bomb-making manuals.

Earlier this month, Israel indicted two of its Bedouin Arab citizens for links to al Qaida and for planning attacks inside the Jewish state.

Agencies

(China Daily 07/19/2008 page11)