Vacuum will always be filled: Sharon
Photo: Flash 90
Father, the son and the holy stench
Sharon's latest scandal should shake Israelis out of their complacency. But it won't.
The political establishment has undergone many twists over the past year, but if current suspicions prove true, the biggest twist could well be yet in front of us.
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To be exact: If Israel is a democratic country, a country in which the law applies to all people – a deep shiver should shake the Israeli political establishment to its very core. For three years, accusations have pursued Ariel Sharon, casting a heavy cloud over the ethical norms he represents as prime minister and a public servant. During the 2003 election he and the Likud managed to successfully weather the political storm created by the Cyril Kern affair, and the Likud won 38 Knesset seats.
Eviction and investigation
At the time, the public paid no attention to the strong stench emanating from that affair, a stink that came from every move Sharon made – starting with the Gaza disengagement.
"The evictions will be as far-reaching as the investigation," said the right-wing at the time, and everybody ignored them and their claims in light of the pullout.
Now, the public has chosen once again to remain silent, after Sharon established Kadima while his son Omri was busy admitting and being convicted of serious crimes; yet the polls remain constant: Israeli voters say they'll give Sharon and his new party 40 Knesset seats, a third of the entire parliament.
At the moment it seems that the stink is too strong, to powerful, too smelly. If until now we had a father and a son, now we've also got the holy stench.
Because this stench, which emanates from this affair and sticks to all its good parts, is a stench that defiles the holy of holies of Israeli democracy and the political establishment. It is the stench of invalid political norms and behaviors, a stench that can't be disbursed with a simple wave of the hand or by holding one's nose and slamming a Sharon-sized fist on the table. Something stinks in Sharon's kingdom, and someone has got to smell it – and clean it up.
No one but him
For three years, the prime minister's aides, Israel's spin masters, have sold the Israeli public an image of an indispensable political leader, an image of a man who cannot be replaced.
The public, it seems, has swallowed it whole. "Sharon looks right, looks left, and sees no one capable of replacing him, no one who can take care of things," said the advisors and aides. "He is the only one who understands the call of the hour."
From the point of view of democracy, there is no claim more dangerous to a healthy political system. And if we look to Sharon's right and left, this claim blocks out reality.
In so claiming, Sharon's advisors do away with anything growing or trying to grow around the old tree and strike a serious blow to Israeli democracy.
Heavy cloud
The claim is similar to the heavy cloud that Shimon Peres left hanging over the Labor Party. He, too, prevented young people from flourishing next to him for too many years. Now, by ruling out everybody else, Sharon creates the impression that Israel will plunge to its death without the Great Leader, who apparently has no replacement.
But history shows that even the departure of founding father David Ben-Gurion failed to leave a vacuum that couldn't be filled. Politicians come and go, but Israeli democracy has proven it is strong enough, and creates quality, experienced people; people fully capable of running the country.
It is too early to say what will happen to this latest scandal, or in what direction it will develop. It could well turn out to be nothing, just one more fuzzy legal opinion stirring up controversy.
Still, it should wake up the Israeli public, shake it out of its complacency and cause it to think about the smell it would like to enjoy each morning.
On the other hand, don't be surprised if polls later this week show Kadima remaining steady at 40 Knesset seats.
