Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Historically, the president has been seen as being above reproach, so it was devastating to
the Israeli public when Moshe Katzav was charged with rape, sexual harassment, fraud, and
obstruction of justice during his presidency. Katzav resigned in 2007, although he continued
to insist on his innocence.
Nor have prime ministers been immune to scandal. Ehud Olmert of Kadima was involved
in several major corruption scandals during his tenure as prime minister. In the fi rst, Olmert
faced a criminal investigation on suspicion that in 2006, as fi nance minister, he had interfered
with a privatization tender for selling Bank Leumi in order to benefi t a businessman bidding
on the company. Later an American businessman, Morris Talansky, testifi ed that he gave Ol-
mert $150,000 over the years, much of it in cash-stuffed envelopes. Evidence was also disclosed
that Olmert had double-billed charities and government agencies for his various travel ex-
penses. In July 2008, Olmert, facing myriad charges, resigned under pressure.
Although these and other scandals did not involve the overall direction of the country or
huge amounts of money, they had a demoralizing effect on the Israeli people. Many felt that
the scandals of greed and debauchery were a sign of how far the country had fallen since its
founding, a time of idealism and utopianism when leaders prided themselves on Spartan living
conditions and citizens put the nation's welfare fi rst.
POLITICAL REFORMS
Since 1948, the political system in Israel, like the economic system, has become more open
and democratic. When the state was fi rst founded, a small group of veteran politicians con-
trolled the parties, chose the leaders, and set the agendas. Today most of the major parties have
mechanisms in place to allow the public a greater role in party decisions and to disseminate
more information.
One of the main reforms took place in the 1990s with the introduction of party primaries
and the passage of two Basic Laws that established the concept of judicial review and opened
the way for the Supreme Court to play an activist role in determining the legality of new laws.
In 2003, however, a third reform, direct elections for prime minister, was repealed.
Labor was the fi rst party to institute primaries, in 1992. Instead of party leaders choosing
the list of candidates for elections, as was the case until the 1970s, and instead of party institu-
tions selecting the leaders, as was the case for the next two decades, party members were now
able to vote for their preferred candidates. By the mid-1990s the major political parties (with
the exception of religious parties) were holding primaries. By 1999, however, Likud had aban-
doned this practice, concerned that candidates were signing up people as party members just
to win the primaries — candidates needed a certain number of signatures in favor of their can-
didacy in order to run — and struggling with the diffi culties of creating a balanced candidate
list. Instead, the party instituted a system in which only veteran party members could vote for
candidates in the primaries.
Direct election of the prime minister failed because it did not achieve the intended goal of
making governing coalitions more stable by reducing the power of small parties. Instead, the
opposite happened because people felt free to cast a vote for the prime minister candidate of a
