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Ehud Olmert on the Ropes
After police recommend his indictment, Israel's prime minister clings to power.
The prime minister’s advisers, who continue to insist the prime minister is not guilty of any wrongdoing, shrugged off the latest development as a predictable move that was “insignificant,” implying that the police had no choice because they had to finish what they had started. They do not expect the attorney general to act upon the recommendation, and the have precedent on their side: a 1997 recommendation to indict then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for influence peddling was rejected.
On the day the police made their recommendation, Olmert and Labor leader Ehud Barak engaged in a very ugly exchange of personal insults during a cabinet meeting, which is filmed for television as a matter of routine. Even cynical political commentators like Channel 10’s Raviv Druker seemed shocked by the language used by the two Ehuds. But the fight was not about Olmert’s alleged corruption. Rather, it was about pending legislation, put forward by Justice Minister Friedman, that would allow the Knesset to veto Supreme Court decisions (Olmert is for; Barak is against).
As retired politician Yossi Sarid put it in his column for Haaretz newspaper, not only are the two Ehuds remarkably similar, but the two of them also resemble Netanyahu. All three men are second-generation Israelis from idealistic, “salt of the earth” Zionist families.
Perhaps because their parents emphasized a Spartan lifestyle and a dedication to ideology, they took advantage of every opportunity to compensate for their childhood conditions when they achieved power as adults. “They are connected by the same sturdy thread,” writes Sarid. “The same lust for power, the same buddies on the greasy path of trickery, the same vices and weaknesses.”
Barak has recently been accused several times of corruption and influence peddling. Raviv Druker recently revealed that his wife, Nili Priel, had established a company that “sold” introductions to Israel’s 800 most influential business people — for $30,000 per introduction. The service was targeted at wealthy foreign investors. Priel closed the company as a result of a huge wave of criticism, but the smell of corruption continues to cling to Barak.
The couple’s luxury Tel Aviv apartment remains on the market for a record-breaking asking price of NIS 40 million (around $11.5 million). They bought the 350 square meter pad for $2.3 million only five years ago. So much for old-fashioned Socialist Zionist values. It is certainly true that the Tel Aviv real estate market has become increasingly expensive over the past few years, but few doubt that the real value of the Barak-Priel residence is based on its current owners’ cachet.
Meanwhile Aryeh Deri, the former leader of Shas, an ultra-Orthodox party that represents the Mizrachi sector (Jews from Arab and North African countries), wants to run for mayor of Jerusalem.
Which wouldn’t be a problem, except for the fact that Deri served two years in prison for accepting bribes, fraud and breach of trust — offenses that were deemed as involving moral turpitude. Deri was released from jail in 2002. By law, he is banned from running for public office for 10 years. But Deri, citing a loophole, has asked the head of the Central Elections Committee to make an exception for him.
Given this grim picture of avarice, megalomania and criminal behavior amongst the country’s politicians and government institutions, it’s easy to understand why Israelis have become deeply cynical about their leaders and about the rule of law. And it does not take a genius to understand that a lack of faith in a country’s democratic institutions puts that democracy at risk.
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Lisa Goldman is a freelance Canadian-Israeli journalist, who blogs at On the Face. She lives in Tel Aviv.
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6 Comments
1. Meir Javedanfar:Kadima supporters should be hoping that Tzipi Livni wins the primaries. Otherwise, the future of their party may be in serious jeopardy.
Sep 10, 2008 - 1:34 am 2. Ken Besig:The whole Ehud Olmert fiasco has exposed the culture of corruption which has infected Israeli politics since the retirement of Yitzchak Shamir and the death of Yitzchak Rabin. The former General and Israeli hero, Ariel Sharon was the first Prime Minister in Israeli history to deliberately and purposely subvert Israeli democracy and abuse his political position to illegally enrich himself, his family, and his cronies. Indeed, if not for Sharon’s timely stroke, he would have been under the same Police investigation shadow as Ehud Olmert. As it was, Ariel Sharon managed, much like Ehud Olmert is now doing, to poison his legacy with his legal shenanigans. But far worse, Sharon allowed his own son Omri to take the fall for his crimes. Yes, Omri Sharon went to trial and had to spend seven months in jail for financial crimes both he and his father committed getting Ariel Sharon elected. Yes Ehud Olmert is a louse, a scoundrel, and probably a criminal and is tragically an accurate reflection and representation of present day Israeli society. Just remember, that if Ariel Sharon had not fallen ill, he would have been reelected in a landslide victory because of his behavior. As it was, the Israeli electorate knew perfectly well what we were getting by electing Ehud Olmert as the leader of a political party, Kadima, made up of renegades and amoral would be politicians. We all knew Olmert as a flawed, conniving, and possibly criminal individual with doubtful leadership skills, but one who would probably continue on the unethical, criminal, and immoral path that Sharon laid down.
Sep 10, 2008 - 4:33 am 3. P. Ami:Mr. Besig,
Sep 10, 2008 - 12:04 pm 4. Danny:A Man who handed land to a sworn enemy for paper stained with ink is no moral paragon. Shamir and Rabin traded value, bought with blood and effort, for that Oslo Agreement which has no worth. The moral weakness of Rabin in the battlefield was reflected in his idiotic decision to agree to a weakening of his nation’s position.
P.Ami, Shamir voted against Oslo.
Sep 11, 2008 - 10:47 am 5. mxxx:Aren’t the police also corrupt for tring Olmert in the press by leaking everything?
Sep 11, 2008 - 10:43 pm 6. Danny:mxxx, no.
Sep 13, 2008 - 10:06 pm