Scandals force Olmert reshuffle

[TonyGosling]

Olmert Completes Cabinet Reshuffle
Wednesday July 4, 2007 8:31 PM
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6757782,00.html

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel's parliament on Wednesday approved Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's new Cabinet appointments to fill vacancies created by a series of official scandals.

Ronnie Bar-On, a longtime Olmert confidant, took over as finance minister, replacing Avraham Hirchson, who resigned Sunday over a police investigation into allegations of embezzlement at a workers' union he headed in 2003.

The resignation was a blow to Olmert, who considered Hirchson of his Kadima Party a key ally.

Olmert named Haim Ramon, another ally, as vice premier. Ramon is a former justice minister under Olmert who was convicted of sexual misconduct earlier this year after forcibly kissing a female soldier. He will step into a post vacated by elder statesman Shimon Peres, who was recently elected as Israel's ceremonial president.

Peres will replace the disgraced Moshe Katsav, who resigned following a widely criticized plea bargain that dropped the threat of rape charges and jail time against him for a series of alleged sexual assaults against female employees who worked under him.

The parliamentary vote in favor of the Cabinet reshuffle was 46-24.

The reshuffle followed the appointment of Ehud Barak last month to the post of defense minister. Barak, a former prime minister, replaced Amir Peretz, whom he defeated as leader of the dovish Labor party, Olmert's main partner in the coalition government.