The sacred cows are almost gone, but:
Corruption in Israel, as I have written in my previous articles, is one of our worst problems paralyzing the Israeli nation. As much as I thought I knew from reliable sources what was going on, I now realize how much I did not know.
Since my previous article appeared in which I wrote: “I know this article will cause many people to be angry, but the truth is that Israel is one of the most corrupt countries in the developed world today”, more and more comments have been sent to me. What amazes me the most is that some people still believe “it’s all out of proportion”, “You are exaggerating”, or “We are still better than this or that country” (new immigrants tend to compare Israel with the country from where they came).
In the last two months there has been some new scandal revealed to us, almost on a daily basis. There is some high ranking officer involved in a new corruption, some politician involved in a serious crime or some representative of the people involved in some bribery or sex scandal.
Let me clarify some basics of corruption: For every new scandal, corruption case, or storm affair, many more remain undetected – completely unknown, or have not been brought to the public’s attention because of the famous Israeli response: “security reasons”.
Transparency:
Transparency is the most effective weapon we have to prevent corruption, but this concept is not yet engrained in our society. The government continues to prevent transparency from being a part of new, good governance that we all need in order to prosper. This is the reason why it is so easy to be corrupt in Israel – because we don’t have enough transparency.
Make your decision and act:
We have to make tough decisions every day and this next election day will be a challenging one. I am not sure if there is one politician running for office today whom I would want to have as a partner in a business.
Tell these politicians we are all tired of their empty promises, lies and manipulation. Send them a message asking for more transparency, and more vigilance from the State over public servants.
We can make changes by being active citizens, demanding from those politicians who we send to the Knesset, to represent us – the people, instead of their own narrow interests.
