30.12.2019 Author: Jim Dean
Column: Politics
Region: Middle East
Country: Israel
“With a gentleman I am always a gentleman and a half,
and with a fraud I try to be a fraud and a half.” ~ Otto von Bismarck,
Chancellor of the German Empire, 1871-1890
An exhausted Israeli public is getting a temporary
respite from Israel’s two failed attempts to form a government by a hopelessly
divided Knesset. The political party battle lines remain hardened, as no
compromise was possible to put a majority coalition together. It seems the
political egos must be served first, and the country’s interests come second.
March 2, 2020 is set for the next polling date. Early
polls show Benny Gantz’ party, Blue and White, picking up 2 to 4 seats, and
some shifting relations among the minor parties.
For example, the Labor party once ruled Israel for
three decades until it was unseated by the former head of the Irgun terror
organization, Menachem Begin. It now fears not making the minimum vote needed
to be allotted seats and is looking for another party to join.
Smaller political parties looking to form new
alliances
The Jewish
Home-National Union’s Bezalel Smotrich told Channel 12 news he has called for
the small rightwing parties to unite. “We need to learn from past mistakes. In
the [April] election we ran with two lists and the New Right didn’t pass the
electoral threshold. If it hadn’t been for that we’d already be nearing a year
with a good right-wing government.” Smotrich called for a single slate
representing the religious right.
Another unnamed top rightwing official reported to
Channel 12 news that, “There will not be another blind following of Netanyahu…
“A fourth election is not an option and would be unforgivable.”
Not everybody is on the join together train. New Right
chief Naftali Bennett reiterated his party’s intention to run independently in
March. As acting Prime Minister, Netanyahu appointed Bennett defense minister
until a new government plays musical chairs with all the ministries once again
in Israel. These are hard fought for positions for all the publicity they can
generate for those wanting to run for the PM slot someday.
Bibi is using political turmoil as his prosecution
shield
So far Bibi seems to be winning on the political-legal
stage in terms of blocking any real movement on his formal indictment and
prosecution. A multi-layered legal battle is now joined where he will use every
tool at his disposal to avoid sitting in a court room.
Attorney General Mandelblit did not want to rule on
whether Bibi could continue to be Prime Minister after his three corruption
charges, passing that decision on to the Supreme Court. He considered the
question a theoretical one, as Bibi has no government until the new Knesset is
elected and he has coalition votes to form a government.
Bibi could have a two for one present on that issue.
He has stated he plans to request parliamentary immunity but must wait until a
new Knesset is in place to do that. The delay might buy him enough time to
build political support to fight his criminal cases, as his strategy has been
to attack anyone involved in his prosecution as members of a coup out to
illegally oppose them.
He has always lived by this rule politically,
relentlessly attack anyone who disagrees with you, so he has fallen back on
what has worked well in the past. My bet is that the Supreme Court will rule on
the case out of patriotism not wanting the state to drift endlessly month after
month, when so many important issues are on the table.
Resigning prosecutor Shai Nitsan speaks publicly
State attorney Shai Nitsan who ran the Bibi
investigation resigned last week, leaving the State prosecutor’s position open.
There is disagreement between acting Justice Minister Amir Ohana and Attorney
General Mandelblit as to how quickly an acting new State Prosecutor can be
appointed. One is saying in a few days, and the other claims not until a new
government is formed.
An angry Shai Nitsan was able to respond in the
Jerusalem Post to Bibi’s ruthless attacks against not only him but the whole
prosecution team as part of a coup attempt to dethrone him.
He stated that, while Bibi charged him with being on a
personal jihad to remove him from office, “It is not my personal position [to
indict]. A team of 25 people sat down – I have no idea what their political
views are – and everyone thought an indictment needs to be filed.”
Can Bibi parlay a pardon
Netanyahu is an old hand at buying time to wiggle out
of tough spots. Even before the last deadline for forming a government,
President Rivlin publicly came out for a pardon on December 4 for Bibi if he
would resign from politics and confess to the charges. He took a pass on that,
even though Mandelblit also gave his approval.
Since then, kingmaker Benjamin Liberman, who
represents the Russian emigres’ party, stated he would go along with a pardon
to remove the stumbling block that Bibi has had in forming a new government.
He stated that he wanted Bibi to “retire with
dignity”, that there was a “sense of fatigue” with Netanyahu in the Knesset,
feeling he had become a burden. Regarding whether there would be legislative
support for a pardon he said, “I’m sure there will be wall-to-wall support. I
think everyone here feels the man had contributed quite a bit and should be let
go with proper respect, but no one wants to see him [here] anymore.”
This is pie in the sky dreaming for Liberman. If such
an allowance were made for Netanyahu to “retire with dignity”, he would go down
in history for creating the Bibi Loophole for every corrupt politician
following behind him, and there seem to be quite a few in line right now.
More big political corruption scandals go public
One such case involves the ex-head of the Israeli Bar
Association, Efi Nave, who will be charged with bribery and breach of trust;
along with Eti Craif, a judge on the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court, for
charges of bribery and destroying evidence.
Nave was one of the nine members of the powerful
Judicial Appointments Committee that rules on both placement and promotions for
judges in Israel’s three-tiered judicial system. Prosecutors claim that Nave
was promoting the attractive Judge Craif’s career in return for a romantic
relationship.
The other case is much more serious, as it could
become the biggest graft case in Israel’s history, and includes two of
Netanyahu’s closest former aides. Bibi’s former chief of staff, David Sharan is
accused of accepting bribes from David Shimron who has been Bibi’s personal
lawyer, confidant, and second cousin.
Shimron is accused of helping Michael Ganor, the agent
for the German ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, helping conceal the transition with
money laundering assistance. Eliezer Maronm, a former head of the Israeli Navy
has also been charged.
Those charged are a “who’s who” of the military and
political elite of the country, further hurting the reputation of the special
country that cannot be criticized publicly, and that screed being used to
enrich top officials who feel it is their due to be able to make some extra
money on the side behind the power of their reputations and past high
positions.
Will Bibi be tarnished with another major corruption
scandal?
Netanyahu has not been mentioned in the case at this
stage, but anyone thinking that he would not have known about a major deal in
the works like this would also believe in the tooth fairy. This case has all
the seeds of a long soap opera. The Times of Israel reports,
“Ganor initially signed a deal to become the
prosecution’s key witness in the case in which he reportedly admitted to
bribing a string of senior officials in order to help secure contracts for the
company with Israel’s Defense Ministry.
But in a shock move in March, he told police that he
wished to alter key parts of the testimony he gave in the case. Ganor claimed
that while he stood behind the facts he had given to police, the payments he
gave were consulting fees and not bribes. He said police had pressured him to
describe the circumstances so that they shored up the claim he had acted to
bribe senior state employees.
That move reportedly came after Miki Ganor discovered
that signing a state witness agreement had put his name on an international
banking blacklist and blocked his access to tens of millions of shekels held in
banks in Cyprus and Austria.”
Will this case intersect with Bibi’s corruption case?
We will know in due time. The Mideast has a long reputation for corruption, and
not undeserved. At Veterans Today, with each year that goes by, we learn more
and more it is just about everywhere, hard-wired into the political system
where money is its mother’s milk.
Jim W. Dean, managing editor for Veterans Today,
producer/host of Heritage TV Atlanta, specially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
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