Ex-Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert sentenced to 8 months in prison

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, 69, was sentenced Monday to eight months in prison for unlawfully accepting money from a U.S. supporter. Olmert, who was forced to resign in 2009, was convicted in March in a retrial in the Jerusalem District Court.

The eight-month sentence is in addition to a six-year prison sentence Olmert received last year for a separate real estate bribery conviction. Olmert's new sentence also includes a $25,000 fine.

In 2012, Olmert was acquitted on charges including "accepting cash-stuffed envelopes" from Morris Talansky, a U.S. businessman, according to The Associated Press. Talansky apparently gave Olmert about $600,000 while Olmert was mayor of Jerusalem. But later, Olmert's former office manager, Shula Zaken, served as a state's witness, offering recorded conversations between her and Olmert about illicit money deals, which led to a retrial.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Olmert's lawyer, Eyal Rozovsky, has stated that he will appeal the ruling to Israel's Supreme Court, and Olmert was granted a 45-day stay before he must begin the jail sentence.