Aliza Olmert

• Name — Aliza Olmert • Office — Spouse of the Prime Minister of Israel • Term Label — In role • Term Start — 14 April 2006 • Term End — 31 March 2009 • Prime Minister — Ehud Olmert • Predecessor — Nava Barak-Singer (2001) • Successor — Sara Netanyahu • Birth Name — Aliza Richter • Born — 1946 • Birthplace — Eschwege, Germany • Children — 4, including Dana and Shaul • Alma Mater — Hebrew University of Jerusalem Bezalel Academy of Art and Design • Occupation — Artist, social worker

• Illustration — Laura Bush welcomes Aliza Olmert, 2006 Aliza Olmert was born in a displaced persons camp in Eschwege, Germany. Her parents were Holocaust survivors from Łódź, Poland. She immigrated to Israel with her family in 1949, grew up in Ramat Gan, and served as an instructor in the Israel Defense Forces. She met her husband, Ehud Olmert, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she was studying social work. The Olmerts live in Jerusalem's Katamon neighborhood. They have five children (including Dana and Shaul Olmert), one of them adopted.

In 1985–1988, at the age of 40, Olmert studied environmental design at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design. In Israel, Olmert has exhibited at the Museum on the Seam in Jerusalem, the Museum of Israeli Art in Ramat Gan, the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv and the Tel Aviv Artists' House. Her work has also been exhibited in Japan, Uruguay, Italy, Britain, Poland, Argentina and New York. In March 2008, she was awarded the Steiger Prize in Germany.

Olmert's politics are left-wing, and she, their children and her social circle have been accused of influencing her husband's political views. She is said to support Meretz. Olmert dislikes the political limelight, and says that their most difficult period as a couple was 1993–2003, when Ehud was mayor of Jerusalem.

Olmert is active in social programs promoting child welfare. She is the chairman of Or Shalom and Tlalim, which aid children at risk and families with homebound sick children. Olmert is also a member of the Action Committee for Children of Foreign Workers and President of the Board of Unitaf, a community-based organization that creates early-childhood programs for refugee and stateless children living in Israel.