Diplomacy: Morris Talansky: A man and his envelopes

Undeniably, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is just a drop away from being prime minister because of him.

By HERB KEINON
talansky 224.88 (photo credit: Channel 10)
talansky 224.88
(photo credit: Channel 10)
'Morris and Udi: A story of unrequited love," reads the headline of a massive feature in the September 14 edition of New York Magazine. Morris, obviously, is Morris (Moshe) Talansky, and Udi is none other than Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. But it is the feature's subhead that deserves honorable mention, because it sums up the Talansky Affair in 12 words: "How a Five Towns macher brought down the prime minister of Israel." Indeed. And it is precisely because Talansky, who hails from a Long Island area known as the Five Towns, led to Olmert's downfall that he deserves Person of the Year recognition. For in the best tradition of Time magazine, the Man of the Year designation goes not to the year's favorite guy, but rather to the person who has had the most influence over events. And in this place, at this time, no one did more to shape events - if even unwittingly - than the silver-haired, avuncular, New York-accented, black-kippa-wearing Talansky. Undeniably, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is just a drop away from being prime minister because of him. Arguably, Israel went public about its indirect talks with Syria because of Talansky. Certainly, had the Long Island rabbi-businessman-philanthropist-macher not taken the stand in May and testified about shoving cash in envelopes and then passing them on to Olmert, the prime minister would not have had to resign. Olmert, in possession of almost incomparable political smarts and instincts, was able to out-wiggle angry reservists from the Second Lebanon War who called for his resignation. He was able to outlast two unfavorable reports by the Winograd Committee investigating the government's conduct in that war, and he was able to outmaneuver earlier attempts by Livni to unseat him in a velvet coup. He was even able to survive a popularity rating that dipped at one point to under 5 percent, otherwise known as the margin of error. Olmert was able to dodge all those bullets while playing on his home turf: on a political field. But when things moved to the legal field, his ability to maneuver - through political charms, tricks and shticks - became much more restricted. How ironic that it was Talansky, Olmert's one-time "dear friend" and generous supporter, who moved him from the political plane, where he excelled, to the legal one, which quite simply is so much more difficult to manipulate. At the courthouse in Jerusalem after his cross-examination in July, a drained-looking Talansky told reporters he was looking forward to returning to anonymity, and disappearing from the focus of the press. Fat chance. At the end of 5767, Talansky was unknown to 99.99 percent of the Israeli public. By the end of 5768, his was a household name, one that - sadly - is now destined forever be linked to the downfall of Olmert, a man he told the court he "really loved... I really did."