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Last update - 13:16 29/07/2008 Lynching the state By Yoel Marcus Tags: Ehud Olmert, corruption  There was a time when public figures were ashamed of being suspected of crimes and summoned for questioning. Two leading Mapai members facing interrogation in the days when Aharon Barak was attorney general committed suicide. Israel's housing minister, Avraham Ofer, and Bank Hapoalim chief executive Yaakov Levinson, a candidate for finance minister, shot themselves. Friends of Ofer and Levinson say they committed suicide for the same reason: They couldn't bear the humiliation of a police investigation. It was a time when the law-enforcement authorities fought corruption associated with "doing for the party," but in practice, the authorities swooped down on crime in any form. Those were the days when Asher Yadlin was questioned, arrested and sent to jail on the eve of his appointment as governor of the Bank of Israel. He said he was raising money for the party. Those were the days when Michael Tsur, managing director of the Israel Corporation and a loyal Mapainik, was arrested and spent years in prison for embezzling millions. This decision by the law-enforcement authorities that belonging to the government or the ruling party did not confer immunity was a contributing factor in Mapai's downfall in 1977. But the lull didn't last long. Corruption in politics returned big-time in a variety of forms, from recruiting criminal types to boost party membership on the eve of the primaries, to the growing link between big business and power. The country has traveled quite a ways from the days of sandals and khaki shorts to the current hunger for riches gained through public office. Advertisement In his book "Cry the Corrupt Country," Arieh Avneri writes that Ehud Olmert has been through 18 police investigations in his political career. And this curriculum vitae has not kept him from climbing to the top. It was no coincidence that Ariel Sharon, mired in a police probe himself, chose Olmert as his right-hand man during the Gaza disengagement. Like the shift in attitude toward political graft in the days of Mapai, the law-enforcement authorities have moved up a notch in their fight against political corruption. But today, in contrast to Israel in earlier days, not only has shame disappeared but the politicians have declared war on those who enforce the law. Adding insult to injury, they have even recruited a star jurist to help clip their wings. I believe that Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann's intentions are good, but I am not so sure about the purity of Olmert's motives in appointing him to the job. Olmert is using him to wage a smear campaign against the attorney general, the prosecution and the police investigators who are trying to probe the grave suspicions that over the years he has accepted bribes in every shape and form. I don't know if it was such a great idea to take early testimony from Morris Talansky, but with Olmert using his standing as prime minister to play cat-and-mouse games with the police investigators, it doesn't make much difference. An ordinary citizen in his shoes would be invited to come down to the police station. If he refused, he would be shoved into a police van, with his head pushed down like you see in the movies, to keep him from hitting his head as the door slammed shut. The head of police investigations, Major Gen. Yohanan Danino, says that Olmert is making it hard for the fraud squad to conduct a proper inquiry. "Making it hard" is a gentle way of putting it, considering the prime minister's galling criticism of the police in the media last week and his harangue about the transcripts of his testimony being leaked, although it is not clear who leaked them and whose purpose that would serve. In an interview conducted "by proxy," Olmert says that every request from the police has been positively considered (he doesn't say "complied with"), taking into account his busy schedule. "I also have a country to run," he points out. Also? How's that for a laugh. They want to get rid of me, says Olmert. So who is "they"? If he is being falsely accused, as he implies, then a certain top cop is right in saying that Olmert should have nothing more urgent on his agenda than clearing his name and addressing the serious charges against him. What kind of society will be left behind if the prime minister himself destroys the mechanisms of proper governance? Sicily? Olmert knows that he's done for, but he is dragging things out in an attempt to save his own skin and settle accounts. So what if he has a country to run. The surveys show that he has hit rock bottom in the eyes of the public. Israel's citizens have lost faith in him, both as an honest person and a functioning prime minister. When Olmert sheds those crocodile tears about being lynched, he's got it backwards. He is the one who is lynching the State of Israel. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Internal fighting Human rights groups say torture is widespread in Palestinian lockups. Danger looms Pentagon chief Robert Gates warns: War with Iran would be 'disastrous.'   1.   Olmert has no shame 13:53  |  Wendy 29/07/08   2.   Olmert is not lynching but destroying Israel 13:53  |  Jonathan S 29/07/08   3.   If Israel is kicking and screaming it`s a good sign 14:06  |  Natallie Durson 29/07/08   4.   NOBODY CAN SURVIVE ALONE IN THIS WORLD 14:20  |  indrajaya 29/07/08   5.   To indra 14:34  |  Zuleida 29/07/08   6.   The jackals are out, their teeth dripping with saliva 14:39  |  o 29/07/08   7.   # 5, ZULEIDA 14:48  |  indrajaya 29/07/08   8.   jonathan s 14:54  |  saul a. readner 29/07/08   9.   wendy 14:55  |  saul a. readner 29/07/08   10.   natallie durson 15:00  |  saul a. readner 29/07/08   11.   Why Livni is a danger for Israel #8 15:52  |  Jonathan S 29/07/08   12.   EVERY PM WHO IS HEAD OVER ISAREL SHOULD BE SUSPECTED OF CRIMES IF 16:52  |  glenna 29/07/08   13.   jonathan s, no. 11 22:44  |  saul a. readner 29/07/08

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