RAMALLAH, West Bank, 5 May 2008 — Israeli politicians ratcheted up pressure yesterday on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to step down pending the result of the latest police investigation against him.

Knesset member Silvan Shalom of opposition Likud Party said he was working to dissolve the Knesset when it opens its summer session in two weeks, saying “the government of Ehud Olmert has reached the end of its road.” Shelly Yacimovich of Labor Party, a member of Olmert’s coalition, called the scope of charges against Olmert “unprecedented,” and said he should suspend himself immediately.

“It has been proven beyond any doubt that the prime minister can’t be under investigations and also lead the country,” she told Israel Radio. “Olmert is stuck up to his neck in investigations. We cannot have a prime minister who is investigated by police. He is plainly corrupt even without waiting for a conviction.”

Likud’s Gideon Sa’ar called on the Labor Party to withdraw from the Olmert-led government of “serial suspects.” In an unusually expedited procedure, Olmert was questioned at his official residence by members of the National Fraud Unit for about 90 minutes on Friday over what police would only say were new suspicions against him. Although a gag order prevents details of the investigation from being released to the media, rumors have circulated that the latest affair involving the prime minister is the most serious yet.

Olmert’s former bureau chief and one of his closest associates Shula Zaken arrived yesterday at the Bat Yam headquarters of the National Fraud Investigation Unit for a second round of questioning.

Zaken, who has been under house arrest since Tuesday, was questioned as a suspect in the same criminal investigation under way against Olmert.

Zaken was suspended from her position as Olmert’s bureau chief some 12 months ago due to suspicions against her in a Tax Authority corruption scandal. The police suspect that she had appointed yes-men to senior positions at authority. Zaken has recently resumed working closely with the prime minister, but as per the recommendation of the attorney general’s office, she was not reinstated to her previous position as bureau chief.

The investigation team in the Tax Authority affair has recently announced that it has gathered enough evidence to indict Zaken on corruption charges. The state prosecution is expected to decide in the near future whether an indictment will be filed against her.

Olmert was questioned over the Tax Authority affair at the time, but the police stressed that he was not a suspect in the case.

Lawmakers in Olmert’s Kadima party have been, for the most part, silent on the new criminal allegations against the prime minister. All ears were turned to Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Olmert’s greatest potential challenger within the party, but she has said nothing. The ruling Kadima party has two other coalition allies — Shas and the Pensioners. The former has been threatening to quit for months, while nearly half of the latter actually did just that over the weekend.

Three of the Pensioner party’s seven lawmakers have formed their own party, and declared that they are officially not part of the coalition. The new party is named “Justice for Pensioners,” and is officially headed by Russian immigrant philanthropist Arcady Gaydamak. Olmert thus faces not only increasingly severe criminal/legal problems, but also a diminishing government coalition, which now has only a four-seat majority.

Meanwhile, Olmert said that “a wave of rumors has been sweeping the country since Wednesday; some of those rumors are wicked and malicious,” referring to the recent investigation against him and the reactions it has prompted.

“I guarantee that once things are cleared up by the relevant authorities, the affair will be put in its accurate context and this will put a stop to the rumors,” he added at the opening of yesterday’s Cabinet meeting.

“Until then, we have a national agenda, and I have an agenda to follow as Israel’s prime minister.” Olmert stated that the police probe will not prevent him from continuing to carry out his duties. “I plan to carry out what I need to do both in the national and the diplomatic arenas,” he stressed.