The sentencing of two former Cabinet ministers, in one day, to relatively long prison terms for corruption has drawn much reaction. Commentators praised it as a victory over corruption, and Attorney General Menachem Mazuz and State Prosecutor Moshe Lador issued a joint statement of pride. But at least one organization says there's still a long way to go.
“A day in which two former ministers are sent to jail for long sentences for crimes of corruption is a sad day for Israeli society," Lador and Mazuz write, "but it is also a day that has an important and encouraging message – that Israeli society is detaching itself from government corruption.”
Shlomo Benizri, a former Communications Minister from the Shas Party, had his sentence upped from 1.5 years to 4 years by the Supreme Court; he was found guilty of having taken bribes and using the money to renovate his home and donate to a yeshiva. He is to begin his term in prison on Sept. 1.
Former Finance Minister Avraham Hirschson of the Likud was sentenced to 5.5 years in prison for having stolen two million shekels from the National Histadrut Workers Fund. He was also fined NIS 450,000. Hirschson, who has already returned NIS 1.5 million, plans to appeal.
“The two rulings of today,” write Mazuz and Lador, “together with many other proceedings, are the results of a broad multi-year process in which the enforcement authorities have fought systematically and uncompromisingly against government corruption.”
Sarid's Niece Edited Prize-Winning Book
The work is far from done, they note - and many agree. As an example, the Land of Israel Legal Forum notes a recent incident that is not in the same league as stealing millions of shekels or taking bribes, but is discomfiting nonetheless. The Forum asks that the National Lottery to nullify the Sapir Prize for Narrative Literature for this year. The prize was awarded to Alon Hilu for his book The Dejani Plantation.
The Forum does not mention in its objections that the winning book has been called “anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist” by respected journalist Ben-Dror Yemini. Its complaint is rather that the chairman of the prize-awarding committee was former Education Minister Yossi Sarid, of the far-left Meretz Party, who happens to be the uncle of the book’s editor, Rena Verbin. In addition, the Forum notes, Sarid and Hilu appeared together at several events sponsored by the book’s publisher Yediot Acharonot in honor of their books’ release.
“The concern regarding conflict of interest on the part of the chairman of the judges committee,” the Forum states, “raises grave questions regarding the purity of the choice. It also strikes a mortal blow at the public trust in the Prize Committee.”
The Forum did not note that another judge on the committee was the former life-partner of the author of one of the books being considered for the prize - and that the book was even dedicated to him!