In an interview, Mr. Friedmann, an academic critical of the Israeli justice system, was careful not to speak about Mr. Olmert, while supporting independent oversight to ensure that prime ministers are investigated only "if the matter is sufficiently grave".
Here's a report from yesterday's New York Post on summonses for minor bike-riding offenses that were thrown out of court due to errors on the part of the officers who wrote them; the matter is more grave and more controversial when convictions involving charges of violence are overturned due to procedural errors.
Short of such a miraculous occurrence, the only thing that might resolve the matter is an experience beyond the grave — what theologians used to call, rather pompously, "eschatological verification".
The incident was first reported in November 2008 by the Danger Room blog of Wired magazine, and then in greater detail by The Los Angeles Times, which said that the matter was sufficiently grave that President George W. Bush was briefed on it.
Malawian President Peter Mutharika has vowed to launch an investigation into the killings, with his office releasing an official statement saying the matter was "of grave concern" to the entire government".
"The situation in Syria is grave -- no matter whether you oppose or support military strikes," he said in a statement.
Abdicating our power in this matter is a grave injustice, for children are dying, innocents are being murdered, our water and air are becoming toxic on our watch.
Judge Justice King said the matter "was and is a grave case" whereby the defendant took an axe and "on any view brutally killed the two victims".
The cost of our slowness or indifference to these matters is immensely grave for the poorest in our world, and many of them are bewildered by our sluggish responses".
The incongruity of offhand tone and grave subject matter is part of a fairly consistent worldview.
