The Yisrael Beytenu swamp

On Tuesday at 12:46 p.m., a Foreign Ministry clerk called me and told me the foreign minister wanted to speak with me. Of course, I said. Then there was a pause, and she asked if I was a member of the Knesset. No, I'm not, I said. Ah, wrong person, she said. Avigdor Lieberman was looking for someone else. Perhaps Labor MK Erel Margalit (who is not related to me). They say Yisrael Beytenu is moving toward the Left these days, but who knows-

I am not paranoid. It might have been an innocent mistake. Or maybe Lieberman had wanted to tell me something but then decided not to. Only an hour earlier, it was reported than an associate of his had been murdered or committed suicide or faked his death. In the whirlpool Lieberman finds himself in, anything is possible.

It is true than everyone is innocent until proven guilty, and this applies to the suspects in the Yisrael Beytenu corruption case. There are suspicions and there is apparently fire that is producing the smoke. There is a female head of a pyramid that was seemingly built like a criminal organization, there are witnesses, and there is dirty money. There are 2 million shekels in one bank account, 13 million in another, and all involved are connected to Lieberman, yet investigators have emphasized that the Yisrael Beytenu leader is not under suspicion.

However, police are wondering how, in a hierarchical structure like Yisrael Beytenu's, the boss could not be aware of deep-seated criminal behavior. After all, if Lieberman did not know about the alleged misdeeds, this marks a colossal failure on his part, yet it is also the most convenient scenario for him.

What has been revealed up to now in the Yisrael Beytenu case surpasses what was known at the same stages in the Aryeh Deri and Ehud Olmert cases. If the suspicions about Yisrael Beytenu prove to be true, then what we are talking about here is Dirty Money, Inc.

It is hard to describe what apparently transpired here with common legal phrases and definitions. What can be said is this: Each person involved enjoys the presumption of innocence, yet collectively the party can be presumed guilty. One can think of Lieberman as a narcissist and Yisrael Beytenu as a swamp. If so, what are any decent people doing in the party's ranks-

On Tuesday, I asked Agriculture Minister Yair Shamir if he would remain in Yisrael Beytenu. What is he doing in this swamp? He has yet to respond. I will wait patiently.

טעינו? נתקן! אם מצאתם טעות בכתבה, נשמח שתשתפו אותנו