| |
Political chutzpah in Israel
Too bad there's no way to reduce number of shameless politicians
Politics is an arena made for chutzpah. It is not intended, apparently, for people given to observing the speed limit.
Rather, it is meant for the thick-skinned, norm-breakers, shortcut-takers.
To a point, there is a certain charm, maybe even wisdom, to this chutzpah. But even breaking the rules has its limits.
Yesterday, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz put an end to such a display of chutzpah.
Three Labor Party Knesset members – Shimon Peres, Dalia Itzik and Chaim Ramon – wanted to join the government. For all intents and purposes, the trio had joined Kadima but continued to serve as Labor parliamentarians.
They thought they could simultaneously be part of the government and part of the opposition. This exercise trampled both the spirit and letter of the law.
"They've got a legal problem," wrote several newspapers. So manners are now the order of the day: Let it not be said that Peres, Itzik and Ramon are criminals. They are legally challenged.
Strong democracy
Say what you will about Israeli politics, this is a democracy, it is stable, effective, lively and confusing.
Israel weathers crises relatively easily, crises that other countries, more established democracies, struggle with. Over the last few days, as Israel moved from Sharon to Olmert, we proved the strength of our regime and its commitment to the rules of democracy.
And at the end of the day, these issues – the rule of law and respect for the rules of the game – are the cornerstones of democracy.
On this issue, Ariel Sharon is no example to emulate. He promised to abide by the results of a Likud Party referendum – and summarily ignored them when it became clear he would lose the vote.
And the millions he raised overseas for his election campaign don’t exactly testify to a respect for the law or the rules of the game.
Shimon Peres has also traveled the same twisted path. When he lost, he bolted to a rival party, and secured promises from Sharon, and then from Olmert, of an assured Knesset and government seat.
No way for a gentleman
This is not the way for someone who thinks of himself as a gentleman. He reached a written agreement with Sharon, a deal that was ratified and expanded by Olmert, then openly denied the existence of such an agreement.
And now, we know he used a legal loophole to take hundreds of thousands of dollars from overseas. One donor bought a large government-owned company from the office headed by Peres' political protege, Dalia Itzik.
This fact didn't stop Peres or his people from asking the person for money or taking USD 100,000 from him.
Even if all these maneuvers are strictly legal, they say a lot about a distorted approach. Peres has reached a point where he is convinced he is above the law, above the rules of the game, above biology, above history. In the best case scenario it is "pathetic."
Together, apart
Last but not least is Yosef Lapid. The man ran for election and was chosen party leader, if only just.
Lapid gave a celebratory speech, the main point of which was a word he repeated over and over, Arafat-style: "Together, together, together."
Then, Lapid's sidekick Avraham Poraz failed to secure the party's number two spot, and Lapid quickly changed his tune to "separate, separate, separate."
He threatened to make a new party, or to retire and to leave his party with no chairman and no voters.
It is the punishment of the shameless that once in a while someone even more shameless comes along.
The punishment for the voting public is that the shameless rule the country. It's too bad there is no way to thin out the list of shameless politicians on the way to the next Knesset.
|
RSS
