I have been overwhelmed along with most sentient Israelis by the incessant media coverage of the supposed transgressions of the Prime Minister and those around him. In my case, I refer not only to the drumbeat of print and electronic headlines and the breathless commentary by our media mavens. I’m talking about the perhaps irreparable fissure this uproar has created with my oldest friend, Yoni.
For years, Yoni was my companion on the drive to the office where we both worked. “Enough already,” he would protest, insisting that I silence the radio as it delivered the latest batch of problems confronting the PM. “They won’t stop trying to destroy him.”
Early on in the flood of revelations about the PM’s escapades, I tended to agree with Yoni’s assessment of the matter. Like him, I was repelled not only by the relentless focus, but also by the guilty-until-proven-innocent tone in which the reports were conveyed.
I don’t recall precisely when my perception changed. But as the charges continued unabated, supplemented by new revelations, I started to consider that I might have misjudged the objective of the veteran representatives of our free press. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, I began to believe that it was not their goal to drive from office the democratically chosen head of government. Instead, driven by an earnest civic consciousness, they were dedicated to restoring the high standards of probity and honesty citizens had a right to expect from their leaders.
In my last conversation before the end of our relationship, Yoni tried to dissuade me. He contrasted the current zeal of the media watchdogs with the soft-pedalling and press cover-ups in the accounts of transgressions by earlier prime ministers and other stewards of the public trust whose ideological inclinations were more to their liking—transgressions including bribery, corruption, manipulation of elections and plain theft.
Unswayed, I countered that the press had learned from its mistakes. Political differences aside, I told him, we should applaud the media for its unwavering determination to clean out the Augean stables in our government (no laughing please).
Driving home from the office the other day, my once closest friend no longer with me, I reflected on the calls for investigation and possible criminal prosecution of the PM for reported trespasses, among them his acceptance over extended periods of gifts of Cuban cigars and fine liquor from long-time friends, unseemly expenditures on his private residences, the still murky connection between his conversations with the publisher of an unfailingly hostile newspaper and a freely-distributed daily and, most recently, allegations that the PM’s son had received lavish presents from a foreign billionaire. (I considered it a display of journalistic restraint that no mention was made of the environmentally damaging impact of the cigar smoke.)
Pondering the PM’s "horrendous" infractions as I parking my car, I remembered an incident I witnessed some ten years ago in a restaurant on Aza Street in Jerusalem, up the block from the PM’s private apartment during the period he was not in office. I was on the way out after lunch with one of my grandchildren when, to my surprise, I noticed the PM’s wife seated in a booth with a companion, whom I believe was a former minister. The companion had given his credit card to the waiter. The PM’s wife smiled, and I heard her remark, “Thanks for the treat."
As a responsible citizen, I am wondering if I should bring this matter to the attention of our vigilant media as another example of the possible violation of the norms of conduct our public officials should exemplify. I cringed when I thought how Yoni might react.