“Growing up in Israel, how can I not be an optimist? When you remember what Israel was 50 years ago and you see Israel now, one of the most successful countries in the world, stable, democratic, with an enormously stable economy despite everything that has happened in the global economy in the last few years, how can I not be an optimist?”

Israeli politician and lawyer

Ehud Olmert is an Israeli politician and lawyer who served as prime minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009. He is known for his role in national politics and for the public statements that accompanied his years in office. His career combined law and politics, and his name is most closely tied to his tenure as prime minister. The facts available here do not add further biographical detail, so his public record is best understood through that period and the issues he addressed while in office.