Personal Life
Olmert's wife, Aliza, is a writer of novels and theater plays, as well as an artist. Aliza is more left-leaning in her politics than her husband. She claimed to have voted for him for the first time in 2006.
The couple has four biological children and an adopted daughter. The oldest daughter, Michal, holds a master's in psychology and leads workshops in creative thinking. Another daughter Dana is a lecturer in literature at the Tel Aviv University, and the editor of a literature series. She is a lesbian, and lives with her partner in Tel Aviv. Her parents are accepting of her sexual orientation and partner. Dana is active in the Jerusalem branch of the Israeli human rights organization Machsom Watch. In June 2006 she attended a march in Tel Aviv protesting alleged Israeli complicity in the Gaza beach blast, which made her the subject of bitter criticism from right-wing personalities.
Their son Shaul Olmert married an Israeli artist, and lives in New York. He is currently a vice president at Nickelodeon. After Shaul had finished his military service, he signed a petition of the Israeli left-wing organization Yesh Gvul. He later became the spokesman of Beitar Jerusalem, his father's favorite soccer team. This team is often associated with the Israeli right. Olmert's younger son Ariel, who did not serve in the IDF, studies French literature at the Sorbonne in Paris. Shuli is the Olmerts' adopted daughter; she was orphaned from her mother at birth.
Olmert's father Mordechai, a pioneer of Israel's land settlement and a former member of the Second and Third Knessets, grew up in the Chinese city of Harbin, where he led the local Betar youth movement. Olmert's grandfather J. J. Olmert settled in Harbin after fleeing post-World War I Russia. In 2004, Olmert visited China and paid his respects at the tomb of his grandfather in Harbin. Olmert said that his father had never forgotten his Chinese hometown after moving to what was then the British Mandate of Palestine, in 1933 at the age of 22. "When he died at the age of 88, he spoke his last words in Mandarin Chinese", he recalled.
In October 2007, Olmert announced that he had prostate cancer. His doctors declared it to be a minor risk. In April 2009, Olmert's spokesman issued a statement indicating that Olmert's cancer had deteriorated.
In 2009, Olmert spoke at various colleges throughout the United States to mixed receptions. In October 2009, he visited Magnolia, Arkansas, and spoke about Israeli farming, technology and Israel's view on Iran. The speech was given at Southern Arkansas University, where he also invited the rural university to form a partnership with Israel's Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
In 2012, he expressed opposition to a military strike on Iran.
Read more about this topic: Ehud Olmert
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