-Caveat Lector- http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/12/13/1039656218190.html
Print this article | Close this window Notorious brothers brush aside scandal and crimes in race for power December 14 2002 The next Israeli parliament is shaping up as a rogues gallery, the last refuge for scoundrels clinging to public power. That is the picture that emerged when the political factions submitted their candidates for next month's elections. The ability of some figures to survive scandal and intrigue in the name of "democracy" is perhaps best illustrated by the Yatom brothers. Ehud Yatom, a self-confessed murderer of Palestinians in custody, was barred from becoming parliament's sergeant-at-arms but there is no legal impediment to him becoming an MP for the ruling Likud party. His older brother, Danny, a former head of the Israeli spy agency Mossad who made headlines when he organised a bungled assassination attempt in Jordan, is set to become a Labour Party MP. Of the two, Ehud, 54, is remembered for his role as a member of Shin Bet, Israel's secret police, in what became known as the Bus 300 affair, involving four Palestinians who hijacked a passenger bus in 1984. After he retired from the agency in 1996 he admitted in an interview that he killed two of the surviving Palestinian terrorists, who had been taken into custody. "I smashed their skulls, on orders of [the then Shin-Bet chief] Avarham Shalom, and I'm proud of everything I've done," the newspaper Yediot Ahronot quoted him as saying. He later denied having made the statement but few doubted that he had been quoted correctly. The fallout was evident three years ago when he was prevented from becoming parliament's head of security. His rejection followed the intervention of the then speaker, Dan Tichon, who consulted the Attorney-General, Elyakim Rubinstein, on Ehud Yatom's suitability for the post. Mr Rubinstein concluded that since Ehud Yatom had admitted killing two Palestinians in detention under orders and later obstructing justice, he was not fit to serve in such a public law enforcement position. Last year the High Court also blocked his appointment as chief adviser on anti-terrorism to the Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon. The panel of judges ruled unanimously that even though Ehud Yatom had killed the two Palestinians on the orders of his superiors, he should have known it was unlawful and therefore not to be carried out. Mr Yatom raged at the decision, saying the judicial body was "cut off from the nation", and announced he would stand for a seat in the parliament. "The nation will teach the High Court what democracy is," he said. It appears he is about to get his revenge, after winning the 24th place on the Likud ticket. Opinion polls give Likud more than 30 seats in the next parliament. Danny Yatom has also been prone to scandal. He resigned as head of Mossad in 1997, after he ordered the assassination of the Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in the Jordanian capital, Amman. Mr Mashaal survived the attempt to kill him with a lethal injection in a busy street. Two of the Israeli agents involved in the operation were caught by Jordanian security forces, and Israel only secured their release by agreeing to release Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the then spiritual leader and founder of Hamas, from an Israeli prison. But Danny Yatom survived the embarrassing affair and later became security adviser to the then Israeli prime minister, Ehud Barak, who lost power to Mr Sharon last year. This week he secured the safe 12th spot on the Labour Party ticket, which, according to recent opinion polls, will guarantee him a place in the next parliament. However, the ghosts of his past may continue to haunt him. This week there were questions about his involvement with Yossi Ginnosar, a businessman and one-time senior peace negotiator with the Palestinians, who is accused of transferring money in and out of a Swiss bank account on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. The Yatom brothers returned to the spotlight when party lists were submitted this week and showed a significant shift to the right in both the Likud and Labour. Mr Sharon lost a battle with his Foreign Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who helped place right- wingers ahead of most centrists in the Likud. And the Labour Party is still reeling from the defection of two veterans, Yossi Beilin, a co- architect of the Oslo peace accords with the Palestinians, and Yael Dayan, the daughter of the late Moshe Dayan, a former defence minister. Both joined the left-wing Meretz Party after Labour placed them so low on the list they could not be guaranteed seats. Seats in parliament are allocated according to the percentage of votes received by each party, and the higher the candidate is on a party list, the better the chance he or she has of being elected. If, as the opinion polls suggest, Israel is moving to the right, other controversial names will soon surface. One of them is Baruch Marzel, who has the No 2 spot on Michael Klenier's right- wing Herut list. A discipline of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, who formed the now outlawed anti-Arab Kach movement, he is now confined to Jerusalem under a court order. The Kach organisation was banned after the 1994 massacre of 29 Muslims in the divided West Bank town of Hebron by a Jewish settler, Baruch Goldstein. After the massacre Mr Marzel, a resident of the Jewish enclave in Hebron, was placed under administrative detention for nearly three years. This year he was confined to Jerusalem on a court order and is facing charges of scuffling with police during the forced evacuation of an illegal Jewish outpost, Gilad Farm. He told Israeli radio this week that he saw his potential election as a way to help make Israel a better democracy than neighbouring Egypt. This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/12/13/ 1039656218190.html <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. 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