Hanegbi becomes Ezra

Wednesday, September 08, 2004

Karadi's remarks directly contradicted what Hanegbi's substitute, Gideon Ezra, said right after taking the appointment from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon this week. Indeed, ever since taking on the job, Ezra, a former senior Shin Bet officer popular in the Likud for his hardline anti-Arab positions, has been making foot-in-mouth statements. Upon taking over the job from Hanegbi, he told reporters that he would be consulting with the suspended minister (who meanwhile has been given a ministry without portfolio, a clear signal Sharon intends to give the public security ministry back to Hanegbi when the investigation is over - if Hanegbi is cleared of illegal wholesale appointments of political cronies from the Likud central committee to the environmental affairs ministry.)

This morning, during an interview with Israel Radio, he admitted he had not read the State Comptroller's report that prompted Mazuz to order the police to investigate Hanegbi. The report not only slams Hanegbi for 'brutally trampling over the law,' but also singles out his close associate, Shmuel Hershkovitz, now the director general of the public security ministry, as being the 'implementer' of Hanegbi's cronyism. Under piercing questioning from the broadcaster Carmit Guy, Ezra angrily said that he had no intention of suspending, let along firing Hershkovitz, 'because nobody told me to.' Presumably he meant Mazuz.

Hanegbi may think that the police will clear him of all suspicion, but between the lines of Karadi's unanswered pleas about not getting the assignment was the clear concern that the very idea that Hanegbi might be put back in charge of the police will no doubt harm the police inquiry. Some police might fear his retribution if they are too enthusiastic; others might go easy on him, knowing he has the keys to their promotion if he is cleared.

Woman Crucified # 13 by Silvia Rosenberg, mixed media on recycled paper, 20x30 cm.

urther complicating the issue is that the Ezra substitution, by law, can only be for three months, at which point it must become permanent or some other minister must be appointed and approved by the Knesset. And most observers agree that it is unlikely the investigation will be completed within that time frame, since it will require interviews with dozens if not hundreds of central committee members, as well as questioning of Hanegbi.

The issue's importance goes beyond the question of petty pickle barrel politics and the sense of growing corruption in Israeli politics, particularly in the ruling Likud party. Hanegbi is the third most popular politician in the Likud central committee after Sharon and Netanyahu, at least according to the last vote in the party nomination process. And that popularity is largely the result of Hanegbi's bragging that he made more appointments of central committee members (or their relatives) than any other Likud minister. If he is forced to give up the public security ministry, even if Sharon is publicly reluctant to fire him, it will open another front against him in his party's central committee, which is already warring against the prime minister on his most important front: the disengagement from Gaza plan.

On another legal front, the Binymain Regional Council has lodged a complaint against Peace Now, for stealing an empty mobile home from an illegal outpost last night. Peace Now took the mobile home to an empty lot opposite the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, to prove, the movement organizers said, 'that it is possible to dismantle the illegal outposts.' The action came under criticism by some leading Peace Now activists who said it was not proper for the movement to deliberately break the law. But the activists who organized the 'theft' argued that it was the only way to prove to the defense ministry -- and the public -- that the delays in removing the outpost are motivated by a misplaced fear of the settlers.

Meanwhile, the army was back in the Beit Hanoun area in Gaza, a follow up maneuver to try to prevent Qassam rocket launches into the Negev, as the Hamas tries to retaliate for the Israeli 'mass pinpoint prevention' of earlier this week, when a missile strike at a Hamas training camp killed 14 and wounded 40. So far, the Hamas has managed to launch some Qassams into the Negev, including one that injured an early morning jogger.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei' said after the midnight Israeli attack that any Palestinian retaliation for what he called 'the crime' would be justified, but he seemed to think at the time that the casualties of the attack were civilians. Even Hamas has admitted that all the killed were uniformed activists and according to Israel, the field where the men were practicing their guerilla tactics after midnight is used in the day time by scouts groups. Qurei' meanwhile has once again threatened to resign, this time apparently over differences with Yasser Arafat regarding an upcoming meeting with the donor nations in New York, said Israel Radio this morning.

And on the marriage front - Mordechai Vanunbu announced he was marrying a Wisconsin woman and the front page of Yedioth Ahronoth was totally devoted to a photo of them together, while Yigal Amir and his betrothed Larissa Trimbobler are going to court to seek permission for a conjugal visit after they claimed to have married, via proxy and phone, last week.

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