Former prime minister Ehud Olmert does not respect the rule of law and his return to politics would be destructive, Labor chairwoman Shelly Yacimovich said on Wednesday.“There’s intense discussion on whether or not a person who was convicted of a crime will return. He is still sitting on the accused’s bench in another trial, and there’s an appeal against him on the crimes for which he was acquitted,” Yacimovich said of Olmert.As prime minister, she added, Olmert “ran a wild battle against the law, the courts, the police, the Attorney- General’s Office and the state comptroller.“Whoever lets a person like this enter the political system is cooperating with its destruction and defilement,” Yacimovich said.The Labor leader was speaking at a conference at Tel Aviv University on electoral reform, sponsored by Yesh Sikuy, Citizen Empowerment Center – Israel and Save Israeli Democracy.Click for full JPost coverageYacimovich was met with boos after she started her speech by saying she opposes changing the governmental system and that the values and actions of politicians are more important.“Nothing is more popular than talking about changing the system. People are always talking about how it must be changed now,” she said. “Something went wrong here, but it is not the system. The floor isn’t crooked; the dancers just aren’t that great.”The Labor chairwoman explained that the current system allows a wide range of action, and the problem is not “governance, but the people governing.”
