| ISRAEL BONDS
Olmert Could’ve Written
Bush’s Speech on Mideast By Tim Boxer  HUD OLMERT canceled his date last month in Colorado for a meeting with former President Gerald Ford, Vice President Dick Cheney and other leaders. He told an Israel Bonds audience that it was more important for the mayor of Jerusalem to stay home and comfort the survivors of the recent wave of suicide attacks.
“I needed to be with the families who suffered,” he said. “I stayed home to view the remains of a girl torn apart, bodies blown up from a bus bombing. An Ethiopian woman cried for her daughter, and I cried with her.” But Olmert came for the Israel Bonds dinner at the Sheraton New York, where he urged American Jews to buy more Israel Bonds. “It’s easier for you to do that than what we have to bear in Israel,” he said. In response, the event raised a whopping $25.8 million. In appreciation, Olmert presented the organizations Guardian of Jerusalem Awards to 10 supporters, including New Yorkers Howard Jonas of IDT, Fredric Gould of BRT Realty Trust, Leon Levy of Urban Substructures, Menno Ratzker of Metallia USA, and Amy Goldberg Michel who’s on the executive committee of Israel Bonds women’s campaign. When President George W. Bush was about to make his historic proposals for Mideast peace, Olmert told friends, “I would really like to write his speech.” After Bush’s announcement of peace without Arafat, Olmert’s friends said, “So you really went to work and wrote his speech!” |
