Memento

by *ahermin

marita

Artist’s Comments

Israel’s Memorial Day (Yom HaZikaron) is devoted to the memory of those who have given their lives so the State of Israel can exist today. Israel’s Independence Day (Yom HaAtzmaut) begins the minute Israel’s Memorial Day ends, and the switch from sorrow to joy is quite sudden and dramatic.

The results of an extensive poll on government corruption released Wednesday finds that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, for the second year in a row, is considered the most corrupt politician in Israel. Fifty-six percent of the public defined his behavior as “corrupt to very corrupt.” Olmert, who also heads the Kadima party, received 42 percent of the vote in 2006.

Israel’s Independence Day is celebrated annually on 5 Iyar, the anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel (May 14, 1948).

Corrupt politicians embezzle public funds or accept bribes from the wealthy in exchange for funding, perks, or legal immunity. A hedonistic politician is one who adopts a living standard that is immeasurably higher than that of his voters and does not care at all how much it costs and who pays for it. The difference between the two types is huge: A corrupt politician takes, and gives something in return. A hedonistic politician takes, and doesn’t give anything in return.

Israeli Arabs, who make up one-fifth of Israel’s population of 7.25 million, aren’t celebrating. Many Israeli Arabs are torn between two loyalties. They have more freedoms than most in the Middle East — even though they spent the first 18 years of Israel’s history under military rule — and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza tend to resent them for their more comfortable lives.

The popularity of the man hailed as one of Israel’s most able politicians when he officially assumed office in May 2006 has taken a battering as a result of last year’s Lebanon war and a string of graft scandals to have hit the Israeli leadership under his watch.
These have included a sex scandal involving former president Moshe Katsav and a sexual harassment conviction of close Olmert aide Haim Ramon, who stepped down as justice minister over the charges and today is deputy prime minister.
Another investigation into alleged widescale corruption in the nation’s tax authority has forced the resignation of Olmert’s personal secretary and close aide of 30 years, Shula Zaken.
And former finance minister Avraham Hirshson resigned from his post in early July amid a months-long police investigation over claims that millions of dollars were embezzled from a labour union he once headed.