Initially, for us Jerusalemites, Ehud Olmert was our great hope. In 1993, a talented young individual who had an image of a fearless fighter against corruption, was able to defeat political giant Teddy Kollek, who had led the Jewish people's most important city for nearly three decades. Olmert was a politician whose name preceded him. But as time went by, we realized that instead of developing into one of the world's most advanced cities, as would befit Israel's capital, Jerusalem was quickly deteriorating into third-world status. When Olmert left city hall in 2003 to become a minister in Ariel Sharon's second government, we had a feeling that he wanted to escape, which was easy to understand given the state of the city at the time. Olmert left behind enormous debts, failing municipal services, a mass exodus of quality residents from the city and, most of all, emptiness, just plain emptiness. Everyone had heard that Olmert was not adverse to promoting his personal interests, but the fear of defamation suits led his critics to act with excessive caution. The heavy sentence Olmert received on Tuesday gave retroactive affirmation to these feelings. We Jerusalemites have a hard time forgetting things. As a proud Jerusalemite, I will forever remember Olmert as the person who was mayor when the Versailles wedding hall disaster happened in 2001. For many Jerusalemites, that tragedy came to symbolize Olmert's 10 years as mayor. On that terrifying night, shocked city residents heard that the floor of the wedding hall had collapsed, killing 23 people. Over time, it became clear that negligent conduct by the municipality had enabled a preventable catastrophe to occur. A certain local Jerusalem newspaper monitored Olmert consistently and determined that the city was apparently being managed in a corrupt manner. And every year, Olmert spent dozens, if not hundreds, of days abroad. At the site where the Holyland housing complex was built, there once stood a historical model of what Jerusalem looked like during the Second Temple era. As children, this model helped us to understand that time period, which was a very important one for the Jewish people. But the model was uprooted so a luxury housing project could be constructed there. We raised questions about what, exactly, the project was and why it was needed. On Tuesday, those questions were answered completely. The memory of pictures of Olmert with cigars arouses disgust in our souls. Ahead of the 2006 Knesset election, many Jerusalemites tried to raise the question of Olmert's conduct in the national media, but they were rejected with lies. At the time, Yedioth Ahronoth and Maariv dominated the media discourse and they repeatedly censored stories about the problematic behavior of Olmert, who was Kadima's candidate for prime minister. Olmert won the election. The media now has a more diverse range of voices. Let us think about what would have happened in the Holyland case if the media were still the same as it was in 2006. It is likely that justice would not have been done. The sentence given to Olmert on Tuesday provided Jerusalem residents with closure. On one hand, it is sad that a promising politician turned out to be a complete failure. On the other hand, it is satisfying that Olmert learned that everyone is equal before the law. This is how things work in a properly run country.
