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26 Cheshvan 5765 - November 10, 2004 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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Opinion & Comment
Politica

By E. Rauchberger

Government Corruption? Not Here!

Like many others Knesset Chairman Reuven Rivlin has Ariel Sharon to thank for his seat in the Knesset. Rivlin holds the 36th place on the Likud list and without Sharon's popularity the party would not have raked in 38 mandates, leaving Rivlin out of the loop.

Even Rivlin himself doubted his chances of election. Until the eve of the election the poll forecasts showed the Likud would win 34-35 mandates at most. Just two days before the election some predicted 36. None mentioned 38.

Rivlin's position on the list was determined by the Likud Center, whose members held little fondness for him. When Rivlin served as Communications Minister he handed out jobs sparingly and apparently did not do favors for Likud Center members readily enough. So they punished him at the ballot.

As the next elections roll around, Rivlin seems to have learned his lesson, for lately he appears to be making every effort to gain the Likud Center's favor. For example, when the State Comptroller released a report on the political appointments by Tzachi Hanegbi and the media storm that formed against him, Rivlin was among the first to come to his defense. He was well aware that Likud Center members would not soon forget who stood by Hanegbi—considered one of the best liked figures at the Likud Center—particularly since he stood accused of favoritism and appointments of Likud Center members.

At a recent conference on government corruption, Rivlin delivered a speech sharply denying claims that excessive government corruption is posing a threat to democracy. "Why are most Israelis certain this country is run in a corrupt way and that corruption has reached every corner?" he asked. "And what is this corruption? Is this institutionalized government corruption in which government apparatuses operate in a corrupt manner? Is this a culture of baksheesh? Of bribery? Is every tender fixed, every trial sold? In short, is Israel a classic third-world country? I believe we are far from this."

He also had answers to these questions, with unambiguous hints as to who was guilty of convincing the public corruption is ubiquitous. To the Likud Center every word was worth gold. Rivlin accused the media, the Left, the wealthy, the State Prosecutor—in short everyone the Likud Center does not hold in high esteem.

"I would not presume to claim there is no corruption here, but I definitely believe the situation is not as it is depicted by certain people with vested interests . . . I believe there is someone interested in fanning the flames of history. There is someone who is looking for corruption under every stone, bribery in every corner . . . "

He said the various cases of corruption cited in the Comptroller's reports are just isolated incidents and the result of "negligence or stupidity" rather than corruption. "The big carnival surrounding political nominations and job handouts distracts the public's attention from the discussion of the real questions of government capital that arise in every area of Israel's small, centralized economy . . . I am convinced that there, in the twilight zone between politics and macroeconomics, there lies the topic of discussion of this gathering, and not in the question of whether some minister or another gave or did not give a sorry job to a Center member. But it's much easier to focus on jobs. It's more colorful. It's mass drama. And most of all, there is no need to work too hard. No serious investigative report in the newspaper, no police investigation that finds concrete facts and no legal work that forms an evidential foundation that can hold water."

Any Likud Center members who happened to be there to hear the speech must have been clasping his hands with delight and can be counted on to pass its contents onto all of the members. But Rivlin probably won't rely on that. He'll send a copy of the speech to all 3,000 Likud Center members, just as he did with a letter on the issue of disengagement. Or else he'll find another way to ensure that the speech reaches Likud Center members. This kind of speech is worth votes at the Center ballot, and lots of them. And Center votes is the name of the game today in the Likud. In fact, it always has been.


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