Sharon, Hanegbi insult voters
Does Kadima party really think public is stupid?
Are Kadima voters really that pathetic, really that stupid, that they can be so blatantly taken for a ride? Can they really be spit on as if they have no idea what's going on around them?
Do Tzachi Hanegbi and Ariel Sharon, the stars of the state comptrollers report on corruption, really believe anything and everything is permissible in the world of politics? That there are no limits to shame and cynicism?
Moving On
Ronny Sofer
In shock move, Likud Chairman Tzachi Hanegbi announces he will be quitting Likud for Prime Minister Sharon's Kadima Party; few hours later, police recommend he be indicted for irregular appointments of political associates; Hanegbi has opposed Likud rebels for 'pushing PM out of the party;' Kadima aide says move ‘decisive blow to Likud’
The answer to these questions is apparently "yes." According to them, the people are stupid, a group of imbeciles who will buy just about anything: corruption, theft, trampling the poor, gifts to the rich, lethal blows to new immigrants – anything goes, on one condition: The products being sold to the party faithful must be accompanied by those eternal phrases, "for peace" and "for the good of the country."
For the Sharon government and his new party, the phrase "for peace" justifies stealing state lands, embezzling public funds, devastating the health ministry, tearing apart the educational system, giving false testimony to the state comptroller, nominating unworthy judges, and forging documents.
For peace, it is alright to tear down internal security, to go easy on corrupt prime ministers and swindling, lying Knesset members, to re-elect MKs convicted of taking bribes and not to spit out Knesset members who admit lying under oath and swindling.
With the backwinds blowing around many left-wingers today, many of whom are hedonistic and rich who benefit from the current economic policies, there is no reason for them to vote for the new Labor Party, Meretz or Shinui – so it's fine to turn criminals into normative people. We're all criminals.
Sharon and Hanegbi acted in this spirit yesterday. It was as if they put a whistle in their mouths, and whistled scorn and contempt for their voters loud and clear.
"You morons," they basically said, "we've got you in our pockets, and we'll do whatever we want with you. We'll tell you what's good and what's bad, what's okay and what's off limits, what you've got to do for Kadima and how to indict Netanyahu, Mofaz, and especially Amir Peretz. He's the real enemy.
This contempt for the public's intelligence was put out in the open and obvious yesterday when Tzachi Hanegbi began to talk about his reasons for defecting to Kadima: He did it for the country, he said seriously, not (God forbid) for personal reasons.
As if he was suddenly seized in the middle of the night by a desire to sacrifice for the country, rather than the simple findings of the police. As if there is no connection between his sudden concern for the good of the country and the police recommendation to press charges against this champion of political appointments, a serious indictment to his career of deceit.
Long time coming
Hanegbi should have understood a long time ago he was on the way to the defendant's chair, but to his surprise the police completed their investigation quickly, the noose was placed around his neck and he was forced to jump ship, to his old friend who could spread a protective umbrella over his head.
The former justice minister understands it is better for someone suspected of criminal activity to huddle under the protective wings of government, to enjoy the services of the people who nominated both the attorney general and the state prosecutor. To support and to be supported. Those are the rules of the game.
He knows no one understands like Sharon, a frequent visitor himself to police investigation rooms, the soul of someone under investigation and for whom the ground is burning under his feet.
Hanegbi is therefore surely in great need of Sharon's legal court and the justice department, and it is not difficult to see what the help he's going to receive from those quarters will look like: All of a sudden the case against him won't be quite strong enough, all of a sudden the state prosecutor will find a way to close the file, and Menachem Mazuz will suddenly forget what he previously said about the case, or what the former state comptroller wrote about Hanegbi's activities. All of a sudden, everything will be cut down to size.
Everything, of course, except any connection to Hanegbi's hasty defection to Sharon's party. Businesslike, to the point, and without fear or bias.
Mordechai Gilat is a columnist for Israel’s leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth
