The Coalition for Accountability and Integrity- AMAN and the Palestinian Forum for Israeli Studies (MADAR) launched a seminar on the politics, capital and corruption in the Israeli scene in pursuit of deeper understanding of the Israeli regime mechanisms, the influence tycoons have on the Israeli scene, and the shadow the Israeli Corruption casts over the Palestinian society. It has become clear to all, that Israel exploits the corruption among Palestinian officials to prssure and pull the PNA’s leg in pursuit of political gains and interests.
Dr. Azmi Shuaibi, AMAN BoD Anti-Corruption consultant, emphasized that MADAR stands to be a key window to study and analyze the Israeli affairs. AMAN considers the partnership with MADAR an opportunity for mutual work on key future strategic projects. He also confirmed AMAN’s position on the Israeli Occupation as a blatant form of corruption and a huge stone in the path of the Palestinians towards a free-corruption society. The impact of Israeli Corruption on the Palestinian society takes on an added gravity due to the political and economic complex interaction between the PNA and the Israeli Authorities.
Barhoum Jaraisey, researcher at MADAR, presented a study he carried three years ago and updated it recently on the relation between the capitalist tycoons and the Israeli regime. He affirmed the contingency of corruption on what is available within the political system. “In plain English, the alliance between corruption, elite, and regime is fuzzy and indefinite” he argued. Jaraisey also gave an overview of the Israeli regime and authority history. He pointed out that Israel emerged as an institution that consists of parties with clear-cut strategies and objectives. At that time, the Israeli General Federation of Trade Unions cornered around 30 percent of the Israeli economy. He added that crises Israel went through over decades since the seventies exacerbated the difficult economic situations. There erupted the first Intifada to be the straw that broke the camel's back. Back then, Israel was doomed to face international economic blockade. As a result, the capital flight started to make the Israeli scene. However, as Rabin was re-elected as prime minster early in nineties, he embarked on a task to create a novel political reality. This was cemented by the détente followed Madrid Conference, Oslo Accords, and the kickoff of the Israeli-Arab negotiations. As a result, the Zionist immigration flooded into the Israel Proper; this created a lot of opportunities and opened new investment horizons.
Jaraisey also highlighted that this period witnessed a great deal of twist between politics and capital tycoons. The parities began to leave their orthodox shells to embrace the American spirit of political parties, and thus embrace globalism with open arms. There started the tycoons to control the structure, numbers, alliances, and agenda of political parties. Accordingly, the allegiance of the Keenest members shifted to the tycoon who pays more and supports their election campaigns, and thus the classic concept of loyalty and allegiance was put on the shelf.
Furthermore, Jaraisey referred to the current exacerbated situation in Israel. The economic sector expands in parallel with a surge in the population due to the Zionist immigration from Russia, America, France and other countries. What’s more, Israel has left the door wide open to attract Jewish capital to Israel to broaden the investment horizon.
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As the economic and politics are becoming closer as the capitalist tycoons’ firm grip is growing tighter to enact laws that fit the bill of their interests and aspirations. This gives a more space to privatization and tax facilities provided to the tycoons, feeds into the abortion of the Restrictive Trade Practices Law. Such loopholes also allow them to appeal to the authorities in pursuit of amended laws and economic policies that ensure free economic activity. The latter has metamorphosed Israel into a haven of tax evaders from all over the globe.
Israeli exports have increased by 270% between 1999 and 2016. The Israeli balance of trade experienced a trade surplus. In fact, the Israeli exports share of the economic growth has inflated, and thus the individual consumption witnessed a decline. All this made the Israeli economy unconcerned about the wars and the political scene. The researcher also supported this point by the two-front war Israel has raged against Lebanon and the Gaza Strip in 2006. The Israeli Minister of Finance admitted that the Israeli economic grew by 7% during August 2006. In plain English, he wanted to say that Israel was not affected economically by these wars. In fact, the Israeli economic has become immune against horrors of wars and political crises. This reflects the capital tycoons’ interpenetration into and grip over the Israeli economy.
Over and above, the control the tycoons enjoy over the media has crucial role in shaping and mobilizing the Israeli public opinion in support of the twisted relation between the Israeli politics and economy. This has undermined the role of the Israeli Judiciary over the past few years, and thus fueled corruption. As data stands, Israel ranked 28 out 176 according to the international Corruption Perceptions Index. Thirty five Keenest members and senior officials were investigated over two decades. Fifteen of them are in jail, three of them are sentenced with symbolic punishments, and two deceased before they were sentenced.
On their part, Abed al-Qader al-Husseni, AMAN chairperson, and Huneida Ghanem, General Director of MADAR, shed the light on the impact of BDS movement on corruption in Israel. In fact, Israel does not deal with the BDS movement as an economic issue, but as a grave threat to its legitimacy.
Dr. Shuaibi underlined AMAN’s concerns about the impact of the Israeli corruption on the Palestinian society. As the former fuels the economic crimes in the Palestinian market. Let alone the role corruption plays to extort and pressure the Palestinian officials, whom Netanyahu has threatened with what he has called a black box to which Israel resorts whenever the relation with the Palestinian is tensed. To put it in Plain English, the Israeli Occupation itself will safeguard the Palestinian corruption as long as the relations are not tensed. It goes without saying that the Israeli corruption creates a fertile ground for corruption to be fueled in Palestine. At the eleventh hour, Dr. Shuaibi revealed that the preparations are afoot at AMAN to conduct a study on the relation between the corruption in Palestine and Israel, and the Israeli exploitation of Palestinian corruption.
link to Barhoum Jaraisey Study: https://www.aman-palestine.org/ar/reports-and-studies/6216.html
