The key founders of Kadima, including Ehud Olmert and Ariel Sharon, were intimately involved in the blatant and illegal cronyism for which
Omri Sharon was convicted. On the day of Ariel Sharon's demise, police had announced sufficient evidence for his conviction. There have been regular reports of the
garden variety form. Is it any wonder that the protection and management of the country has been completely subverted in the face of their personal political gain?
Consider the two most powerful ministers Olmert appointed. The Defense Minister had almost no military experience. He even lacked management experience in any constructive endeavor. The Foreign Minister cannot speak English, which is the prerequisite to international diplomacy and the language of Israel's only ally.
Israelis ignored the lesson of Ariel Sharon's passing: utter negligence regarding simple health precautions when they conflicted with political manipulations. What is amazing is that the consequence of failure in the north will be millions of dollars sent to deal with the crisis, which will then be exploited by the parasitic
protexia class. Of course, this was obvious before the election, as I wrote months ago:
Almost half of the Knesset members in the government are now "ministers." What is not well understood is that these new ministries will be staffed by ever-growing legions of political cronies. Sharon's systemic corruption in political appointments (despite his promises to the contrary) will likely prove to be one of his most lasting legacies. Get ready for a lot more of this collaboration between Olmert and Peretz. This is what I predicted before the last election, saying "Israel is heading for long-term disaster by placing these [Kadima] foxes, along with Peretz's Labor, in the henhouse rules committee."
Here, then, is today's nepotism news:
Allegations of political appointments in the Authority for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses during Ehud Olmert's term as minister of industry, trade and labor are included in a report released early Monday morning by State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss....Lindenstrauss found that under the stewardship of Olmert and ministry director-general Ra'anan Dinur, the ministry changed the rules of the authority and appointed a woman with close political ties to Olmert as the deputy director-general. She, in turn, appointed at least three new project managers who were members of the Likud central committee.
According to the report, the three were appointed according to improper procedures and without giving others a fair chance at the job. Two of the projects were not even originally included in the annual work schedule for the year in which the politically connected managers were hired....Instead, the Industry and Trade Ministry changed the rules of the authority to increase the minister's influence on the allocation of its budget and the appointment of its director-general.
They also added a new position of deputy director-general and appointed attorney Lilach Nehemia to fill it. One year earlier, the Raviv Committee had rejected her candidacy for the job of public representative on the board of directors of the Government Tourism Company because of her personal and political links and lack of any special skills.
Nehemia took up her job in mid-2004. One year later, 10 to 14 project managers were heading authority projects, of whom half had started working after her appointment. Three of the managers were members of the Likud central committee....
The first project manager, Shimon Moshe, was appointed head of a project for the disabled. He was paid NIS 27,000 a month including expenses. At the same time, Olmert presented him as a candidate for the job of deputy head of the Employment Service, even though he did not meet the educational requirements. Other candidates were automatically disqualified for failing to meet the same requirements....Meanwhile, Moshe was forced to leave his job as project manager following a petition to the High Court of Justice. However, the authority appointed him to manage another project.
The second project manager, Yitzhak Michaeli, was first put in charge of a project to help Beduin and then to participate in a survey regarding outsourcing for Israeli Arabs. After one month, the Beduin project was stopped for lack of funds. He received NIS 140,000 for the outsourcing project even though it was not clear what work he did....Lindenstrauss found that Padida [the third project manager] did not submit detailed monthly work reports and that it was not clear how much work he had done.
It is not clear how much work was done recently in defending the country or dealing with the home front emergency.
