‘No apologies’ for Israeli corruption

Op-ed: In Israel, a convicted criminal can lead a political party carrying a social banner. In Israel, corruption is forgivable; not being ‘one of us’ is unforgivable.

YNET

Remember the Denver boots (known as “Denver sandals” in Israel), that odd solution which firmly fixed in place the problem (parking in a forbidden zone) it was supposed to solve?

Forget about them. Say hello to the current Israel scandals – the corruption in the Yisrael Beiteinu party and Shas’ hot tape. Corruption, commentators say, existed in the state’s inception and has continued ever since. Yisrael Beiteinu is just another link in the heavy chain.

That’s possible, but somehow that chain has become slightly heavier recently.

In the past few years, the court has sent to prison a finance minister (Abraham Hirschson), the chairman of a large bank’s board of directors (Danny Dankner), a Knesset member and a prime minister’s son (Omri Sharon), ministers (Aryeh Deri and Shlomo Benizri) and soon a prime minister as well (Ehud Olmert) – and these are only the famous ones among those who were caught.

The optimists will say that our situation is actually better. There has always been corruption, and now we have started making a fuss about it. The arrests are an expression of the Israeli public system’s health.

The pessimists will say we are so healthy that it makes us feel bad. This phenomenon is not a local rash which can be uncovered by exposure to light, but a national disease which requires a radical treatment. Because the Israeli version of corruption appears to have more of the human phenomenon of greediness and megalomania.

The Israeli corruption is an expression of Naftali Bennett’s “no apologies” slogan. No one has the right to criticize us. No one is better than us. Obeying the (national and international) law is meant for “them,” not for us.

In Israel, a convicted criminal can be released from jail and become the head of a political party carrying a social banner. In Israel, corruption is forgivable. What is unforgivable? Not being “one of us.”

And without addressing the actual suspicions, it’s clear that the thing which is going to harm Lieberman’s party is his shift from the consensual right (“we”), in which corruption is forgivable (you stole too, now it’s our turn) to the center, where it is perceived as piggishness (“you’ve stolen enough”).

This move involves the loss of cultural and political defenses. When Lieberman was perceived as an extreme rightist (“no apologies”), the investigations had no effect on the support he received. The new investigation will have an effect.

And what about Shas? Shas has turned the “it’s our turn now” into its banner, and the forgiveness given to its corrupt members into something one doesn’t apologize for. So far, there’s nothing new here.

But now the tape reveals that while Rabbi Ovadia Yosef stood by Aryeh Deri in public with a slew of firm declarations (“he’s innocent”) and sympathetic slaps in the face, behind the scenes he called him a thief and accused him of taking a bribe. We would have expected the late rabbi to express his full faith in his faithful man even in private. It turns out he didn’t do that.

But the real problem is not whether Deri is innocent (he’s guilty), but something else: It turns out that the rabbi, whose authority Deri based the support for the Oslo Agreements on, was not really keen on peace. He let Deri lead him.

Deri, therefore, is not the obedient student who acts upon his rabbi’s wishes, but a leftist. That’s a problem. The bigger problem is the fact that Deri had an opinion of his own: “He is too independent… isn’t he evil?” the rabbi asked. Evil.

Former Shas Chairman Eli Yishai, according to his supporters, is not evil. He is an extreme rightist and he is not independent. He is therefore a righteous man.

But some people disagree with this. As far as they are concerned, the tape’s exposure is a scandal. Not because it’s a lie, but because it revealed, without the family’s consent (independence is evil), the truth. Righteous? Evil? Go figure.

In the upcoming elections, Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu’s voters will have to make a decision. Some of them will likely decide to leave their home.

In both cases, I’m afraid, they won’t go looking for incorruptibility. They will turn to whoever grants an exemption from apologies. In other words, to the right. The chances for an electoral upheaval appear slimmer than ever.