Tuesday
Feb202007
Dodgy Gaydamak backs Netanyahu
Issandr El Amrani
Should I be surprised that so many Israeli political figures seem to be criminals of one kind or another? I suppose not, the country has been at the center of many illicit trades for a while now (human trafficking, conflict diamonds, drugs, weapons), obviously with politicians/officials' support. And in any case, politicians worldwide seem to be increasingly corrupt. And this particular character (how can someone who holds Israeli, French, Russian and Angolan passports not be dodgy?) seems both unsavory and dangerous:
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Right-wing Israeli-Russian billionaire Arkady Gaydamak has said he planned to create a new political party to focus exclusively on socio-economic issues.The AFP story doesn't say that Gaydamak is wanted in France and under investigation in Israel.
"I intend to create a new party within one month after having examined all the bureaucratic procedures," Gaydamak told AFP.
"The state of Israel is passing through a major crisis because it is being managed by some inefficient people."
"As an Israeli citizen I consider this my duty," he added. "I have certain experience in political, economic and social affairs."
Gaydamak, a long time ally of right-wing Likud party leader and former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said his own polling showed he had broad support from Israel's large Russian minority and could count on between 25 and 30 percent support in a nationwide vote.
Reader Comments (4)
"The AFP story doesn’t say that Gaydamak is wanted in France and under investigation in Israel.|
Now they do bitch!
Russian football mogul looks to score in Israeli politics
by Charly Wegman
JERUSALEM, Feb 20, 2007 (AFP) - Israeli-Russian billionaire and football tycoon Arkady Gaydamak said on Tuesday he will launch a new political party in a move likely to further roil Israel's already turbulent political field.
Gaydamak, a close ally of former prime minister and right-wing Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu, said his party would draw on his widespread popularity among Israel's large Russian minority and focus exclusively on socio-economic issues.
"The state of Israel is passing through a major crisis because it is being managed by some inefficient people," the billionaire told AFP.
Gaydamak, who owns Jerusalem football and basketball clubs and is no stranger to controversy in his various business dealings, is making his move with opinion polls showing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's popularity ratings barely in double digits.
He is to formally launch his party at a press conference in Tel Aviv on Wednesday.
"As an Israeli citizen I consider this my duty," he said. "I have certain experience in political, economic and social affairs."
Gaydamak's formal entry into Israeli politics was closely coordinated with Netanyahu and his party is expected to merge with Likud at a later date, Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported.
In recent weeks the two men have trumpeted their alliance in the media.Gaydamak called Netanyahu the fittest candidate to run the country and Netanyahu attended the tycoon's much talked about December Hannukah party.
That tightening alliance has sent Netanyahu's poll ratings among Russian voters, a key demographic, skyrocketing 17 percent according to the Israeli press.
Recent opinion polls show plummeting support for Olmert's centrist Kadima party, which currently has 29 seats in the 120-member parliament, while Likud could boost its hold to 32 seats from 12 now.
On the right, Netanyahu's most credible challenger is Avigdor Lieberman, whose Yisrael Beiteinu Party, like Gaydamak, draws much of its support from Israel's Russian minority.
"I do not know that I have the qualities necessary to assume responsibility for matters of security and national defence," Gaydamak told AFP. "But I could see myself working to restore meaningful relations between Israel and the diaspora.
"The state of Israel was created by the Jews and for the Jews but today, Jewish values are no longer emphasized and this is a real problem."
Gaydamak rocketed into the public eye during the war in Lebanon with a much publicised campaign to aid residents of Israel's north who fled from their homes beneath a barrage of Hezbollah rocket fire.
He set up a vast holiday camp south of Tel Aviv for those fleeing. A few months later he invited nearly 2,000 residents of Sderot, a southern Israeli town regularly pounded by Palestinian rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, on a one week all-expenses paid hoiday to the Red Sea resort town of Eilat.
Critics accused Gaydamak of pulling off populist media stunts, but they seem to have worked. Today, Gaydamak says his internal numbers show him polling between 25 and 30 percent of the national vote.
One of the first Jews to immigrate to Israel from Leonid Brezhnev's Soviet Union, Gaydamak soon left for France, but fled back to Israel in 2000 amid allegations of Angola gun running and tax evasion.
Israel has denied French appeals to extradite the tycoon, who reportedly has four passports from Canada, France, Israel and a diplomatic passport from Angola that allows him to dodge arrest warrants on his travels.
Gaydamak has also been investigated for alleged money laundering at home in Israel.
The billionaire also owns Israeli football team Beitar Jerusalem and basketball side Hapoel Jerusalem.
Gaydamak boasted that the football team's notoriously right-wing sympathizers alone would assure him five percent of the national vote.
Election to Knesset would, if I recall correctly, give him parliamentary immunity. Now, that would be convenient wouldn't it?
I think that Gaydamak cannibalizes Lieberman's vote. I don't see how this helps Netanyahu or the right in terms of adding to their base. If Netanyahu won the PM, Lieberman would join w. Likud (I'm reasonably certain). Gaydamak would also join Likud. So what does Gaydamak add to the mix?
I never want to hear an Israeli talk about the corruption in the Arab world ever again. Then again, at least Israelis--Katsav, Ramon, Omri Sharon--are being indicted or are under invetigation--Olmert. Can't say the same for Mubarak and his crew....
Only g-d can create perfection, Man can't. Crooks exist in every country and in every people. Jews included.
How Egypt is run is up to the Egyptians and how Israel is run is up to the Israeli. For that matter it is rather common here in America as well but in countries under the rule of law if it gets to bad someone gets arrested or indicted. But this sort of thing is a normal human condition.