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Hot Chilly
Joined: 20 Mar 2007
Posts: 618
Location: Tropics
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 Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 2:37 am Post subject: Scandals dog Israel's new breed of politicians |
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Israelis are known for their quick learning and adaptation for survival and self sacrifices for nationhood. However, the new generation of leaders, plagued by corruption scandals, may not be up to scratch to keep the nation unified and pursue a hardline foreign policy.
http://news.asiaone.com/News/the%2BStraits%2BTimes/Story/A1Story20080719-77585.html
| Quote: | JERUSALEM - DURING Israel's early decades, ministers and generals returning to their home kibbutz would take their turn on the kitchen duty roster, waiting on tables or washing dishes, along with other members who worked in the fields.
The kibbutz settlements - then a source of a large percentage of the national leadership - were set up on the principles of social equality, with each member of the commune being treated as an equal.
This manifestation of equality, together with the modest lifestyles of non-kibbutz prime ministers such as David Ben-Gurion, Israel's founding father, and Menahem Begin, has now been shrouded and 'abandoned' in a romantic haze by a new breed of politicians caught up in recent years in a succession of corruption scandals.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has, since assuming office two years ago, been forced to take time out from complex issues of state - including a war in Lebanon - to confer with his defence attorneys on six separate police investigations into alleged corruption involving him when he held previous ministerial posts.
Last year, Moshe Katsav resigned as president after his attorneys cut a deal with the state prosecution to reduce some of the charges he faced of sexual harassment and rape of former women employees.
Also last year, a court found Deputy Prime Minister Haim Ramon guilty of indecent behaviour - he had kissed a young woman soldier against her will.
And just last month, Finance Minister Avraham Hirchson was indicted for stealing some US$755,000 (S$1 million) from a workers' union he headed in 2003.
During the previous Knesset (Israel's legislature) from 2001 to 2005, some 15 members - about 10 per cent of Parliament - had been investigated, indicted or convicted of misdeeds.
'It was the worst Parliament in the history of Israel,' said former Knesset member Yossi Sarid.
The sharp change in the morality level of public officials parallels the shift from the socialist and pioneering ethos that marked the nation's first generation to the era of free-wheeling capitalism when it is no longer unseemly to be wealthy.
A prominent Knesset member in the early 1950s was drummed out of the ruling Labor Party when it was found that he had acquired a second home, even though it was done quite legally.
In contrast, Mr Olmert's acquisition of several expensive apartments over the years did no more than raise eyebrows until police began probing charges that one of the units had been bought at a heavily discounted price in return for his having arranged illegal building permits for the builder.
Former prime minister Ariel Sharon, who has been in a coma since suffering a stroke two years ago, also allegedly accepted money illegally for campaign funding on a large scale, with implied promises of a quid pro quo for contractors and businessman donors.
One of his sons, Omri, recently served a four-month sentence for being a go-between in such deals.
'The corruption we are seeing now is almost at epidemic level,' said attorney Daniel Kayros of the Movement for Quality Governance in Israel.
In a Corruption Perceptions Index released last year by Transparency International, a global non-governmental organisation dedicated to fighting corruption, Israel was ranked 30th out of 180 states, a slight improvement from the year before when it ranked 34th. (Singapore tied for fourth place last year and the United States was in 20th place.)
Much of the corruption in Israel involves illegal campaign funding, an issue on which the public is more forgiving.
Analysts say that the frequency of elections in Israel is one of the reasons for the frequent bending of the law on fund-raising.
The ordinary citizen rarely encounters the temptation of corruption. But officials with access to public monies have, with increasing frequency, been caught dipping their hands into the pot for personal gain.
It is this sleaze element that has aroused public ire against Mr Olmert, including the latest charge that as a minister he had double-billed various organisations for the same trip abroad, pocketing the money for his own use.
Mr Olmert's plummeting standing in polls and the focus in the media on corruption reflect the public's increasing demand that political figures who may lead the nation to peace or war must have not only wisdom, but also a moral core. |
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Poor Man
Joined: 03 Jun 2007
Posts: 127
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| Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 5:27 am Post subject: Domestic weakness spill over to international sphere |
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When a country is weak on the domestic front, it will gradually erode all the gains made, high principles will be compromised, the rotting process will ensue, unless it is arrested with political and determination. They abused their power and office for their own benefit, enrich and empower themselves, all at the expense of people and nation. Inevitably, the country's international image and influence will also suffer.
The shift may partly be attributed to Israeli leaders looking for flawed models. Politicians, the rich and powerful, Zionists and capitalists, all collaborating for self serving interests closely mirror what has been happening for decades in the USA, Israel's closest ally. The imitate is a form of flattery, but one must really discriminatory and smart when copying the good aspects but discard the negative ones. When the US ally's moral core has been undermined, the Israeli leaders should not follow their example and go down the slippery road.
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Moved: Tue Aug 26, 2008 12:59 am by Admin
From General : Political Developments to Africa, Middle East, South Asia and Others |
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