Labor leader Shelly Yacimovich presented a detailed plan to prevent connections
between government officials and the wealthy on Sunday, following Foreign
Minister Avigdor Liberman’s resignation.
Yacimovich opened the Labor
party conference in Tel Aviv by saying that the initiative was not personal and
not targeted only at Liberman, but was meant to be a discussion of the future of
Israel and its norms.
”This isn’t a popular subject, but we’re discussing
it because it’s important and we’re concerned. There needs to be equality before
the law,” she stated. “Why should senior government officials get plea deals
with luxury conditions?” Yacimovich added that even if someone is not convicted
following an indictment, that does not mean he or she is “white as snow,” and
called for the public to continue to be critical of such
people.
According to Yacimovich, the government in the past few years
attacked the rule of law by weakening the courts, the police and the State
Comptroller’s Office.
The Labor leader pointed out that, while Liberman
was being investigated, he was responsible for selecting the justice minister;
the head of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee; a
representative to the Judicial Selection Committee; and, indirectly, the chief
of police, because Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch is in Yisrael
Beytenu.
Former police chief Moshe Mizrahi expressed concern that the
public has become used to government corruption trials, and is no longer
bothered by them.
“Even if it is not a criminal action, there are things
happening that should not take place in a civilized country,” Mizrahi said,
mourning the loss of “normative judgment.”
Knesset candidate Miki
Rosenthal, a former investigative journalist who specialized in corruption cases
and the connection between government and wealth, presented Labor’s plan to make
the phenomenon less prevalent.
One of the party’s suggestions to prevent
corruption and bolster the rule of law is to strengthen the courts and minimize
political influence on them by taking steps such as separating the courts from
the Justice Ministry and anchoring a seniority system for judges.
Labor
also called for protection for whistle-blowers, as well as an additional 4685
police officers over the course of five years to fortify the police.
In
addition, the party hopes to pass a law requiring politicians to disclose their
interests to promote further transparency and freedom of information.