Olmert Indicted in ‘Holyland’ Bribery Case
Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and 17 others were indicted on Thursday in the so-called Holyland case, for allegedly giving or receiving bribes to advance various real estate ventures.
Almost two years after one of the largest corruption scandals in Israel’s history first erupted, indictments in the case are due to be filed on Thursday.
In March 2011, the prosecution announced that it had enough evidence to indict 18 people, including former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, former Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski and former Israel Lands Administration director Yaakov Efrati. All are suspected of giving or taking bribes to advance various real estate ventures, most notably the Holyland luxury housing project in Jerusalem. During the years when the alleged bribery occurred, Olmert was first mayor of Jerusalem and later the cabinet minister in charge of the ILA.
The key prosecution witness, a businessman identified only as S. who served as middleman for the bribes, later told the police that “in talks I held with Mayor Olmert, with chairman of the local planning and building committee Lupolianski and with members of the local committee, it was made clear to me that via the ‘give and take’ method, I could get [the benefits] I desired … I want to stress: The hints were from those people to me, not the reverse, because I wouldn’t have dared.”
Ultimately, the developers were given huge tax breaks, additional building rights and other benefits worth tens of millions of shekels.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism so that we can be prepared for whatever news 2025 brings.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO