A political battle is raging between the Labor party and the
Likud over allegations that a series of non-profit
organizations were illegally set up as fronts to collect
funds for Prime Minister Ehud Barak's election campaign.
But don't expect the Israeli media to jump on the bandwagon
so quickly. Indeed, were it not for the efforts of one man,
no attention would have been given to the issue.
That man is the official in charge of registering non-profit
organizations, Amiran Bogat, and he has called for a special
investigation as to whether the non-profit organizations
acted legally.
Bogat had tried beforehand to extract detailed reports from
the organizations about their budgets and activities, but, as
expected, did not cooperation. As a result, he decided to
examine the issue.
In response, the Labor party decided to resort to its
favorite tactic of attacking the person rather than the
issue. After it became clear to them that all of their feeble
explanations regarding the activity of the organizations were
not sitting well with the public, they decided to fight the
registrar, Bogat, and to attempt to persuade the public that
he had ulterior motives.
What did they find wrong with him? First of all, he had once
been a member of the Likud central committee. But worst of
all, he wore a knitted yarmulke!
Bogat, in truth, had never belonged to the Likud's central
committee. Like every other citizen in the state, he
certainly has a political opinion. But the terrible stain
which clung to him, that of becoming a member of the Likud
party, and the knitted yarmulke which he wears on his
head, disqualifies him a priori from every public
appointment that could jeopardize the hegemony of the Labor
party.
Journalist Amnon Shomron, writes quite sharply about the
Israeli left, which seeks to de-legitimize every kippah
wearer--knitted in the main--who doesn't march to the leftist
tune.
"The real problem of Attorney Bogat is the knitted
yarmulke on his head. Many decent people before him
have undergone similar, degrading experiences.
"An all out battle has been going on for years over the
promotion of General Efi Fein.
"General Yaakov Amidror, who still wears a knitted
yarmulke and grows a beard, was forced to forego the
position of the head of IDF Intelligence, because in a
newspaper interview he expressed opinions which deviated from
the views of the secular political left.
"The appointment of General Eliezer Stern to the position of
Chief Education Officer was accompanied by the anonymous
reservations of senior officers who felt that it would be a
blot on Israeli society to appoint a kippah wearer to an
educational position.
"Regarding the promotion of Avraham Lifshcitz, the Education
Minister's candidate for head of the Administration for
Conceptual Education, and Motty Sklar, the candidate for the
position of the director of educational TV, the champions of
proper administration regulations popped up to demand that
there be a tender for these positions.
"Last week, Shmuel Ben Tov was appointed director general of
Channel 2 without a tender. He is the son of a former leader
of the now defunct extreme left wing Mapam political party,
Victor Shem Tov, and was one of the organizers of the high
school seniors' letter threatening not to enlist. Many of his
family members serve in the offices of the Meretz ministers.
There are no doubts about his political positions.
"The members of the Broadcasting Authority's executive
protested ever so feebly, but complied with the warm
recommendation of the Communications Minister, Binyamin Ben
Eliezer.
"Of course Bogat has a political opinion. Who doesn't? Even
the justices of the High Court vote in elections, as do the
Commander of the Police, the Attorney General and the State
Comptroller.
"Is their professional integrity greater only because the
public doesn't know whom they supported? Perhaps the opposite
it true. Perhaps their objective cloak enables them to
maltreat other political parties. Perhaps from now on we
should demand to know the political opinions of every judge,
so that we may examine his rulings more critically.
"The wretched show in which the screaming MK, Shiri Weitzman,
blames the non-profit organization registrar for having
political motives, without even the slightest proof to that
effect, was possible due to Shiri's parliamentary immunity
against slander lawsuits.
"But the silence of the media which has not come out in
Bogat's defense, points to their adopting the abusive line of
the Labor party, which lost its self respect only in order to
defend the straw organizations of Barak.
"MK Shiri presented 22 names of non-profit organizations
which acted on behalf of Netanyahu. The list was ridiculous.
Among other things, it contained names of organizations such
as the Yesha Council, Women in Green, Gamla Won't Fall Again,
the Organization for the Right of the Public to Know and
Tzierei Chabad.
"This was an act of despair. No one in the right had filed
any complaints against Women in Black, Peace Now, the
Federation for the Rights of the Citizen, Dor Shalem, and all
of the other left wing organizations, which function all year
round to realize their world view.
"The complaints are directed against the attempt to entice
the Israeli public by deceit and trickery, and the law
enforcement authorities by means of fictitious organizations
which were registered as having lofty social aims, but hired
thugs and gangsters to insure Barak's victory."
