Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Ehud Olmert Will Remain Free Until He Exhausts Appeals, Court Rules

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will remain out of prison until he has exhausted his appeals, the country’s Supreme Court ruled.

The seven other men also appealing their convictions in the Holyland affair will stay out of prison as well, the court ruled on Monday.

Olmert was sentenced in May to six years in prison and a $289,000 fine for accepting bribes in the real estate scam known as the Holyland Affair and ordered to report to prison on Sept. 1. The prison date was suspended pending his appeal. He recently began a retrial in the so-called Talansky Affair in Jerusalem District Court.

It is unusual to postpone prison sentences in Israel. Olmert’s lawyer, however, argued that his appeal likely would be successful.

Olmert is the first Israeli prime minister to be sentenced to prison.

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 during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.