ELECTION HUSH WORDS
by Barry Chamish

The Israeli election campaign is winding down and it's safe to call it the most boring in anyone's memory. There are two reasons for this: the public is sick of its politicians and the media has used all its power to hush the real issues. Three examples of two word phrases not discussed openly give a hint of how public opinion is being moulded.

1. Arab Vote - If Barak wins, and polls have him leading by 8-9%, it will be because 95% of the Arab votes will go to him. With 18% of the population, the Arabs can now keep the Left in power virtually forever. To sum the issue up: The majority of Jews, it looks like about 56%, will vote Netanyahu, while a Jewish minority will support Barak. In an election to determine the leader of the Zionist Knesset, Barak will likely be elected and then be totally dependent for his continuing power on anti-Zionist voters. Now try and find this central issue discussed in Israeli newspapers or over Israeli airwaves. The media justify their hush-up by calling the issue racist. However, its real motivation is ignoring any debate which could give Netanyahu an edge.

2. Dirty Courts - The talk on the street is how the Israeli judicial system suddenly took a stand against political corruption since the election campaign began. First, the guardian of Israeli ethics, State Comptroller Miriam Ben Porat was not allowed to complete her investigation of Ehud Barak's role in the Tzeelim Bet disaster. If he was not personally responsible for the deaths of five soldiers in a training accident in 1992 at the Tzeelim army base as the highest ranking officer on the site, his neglect of the wounded and his contradictory testimonies at two commissions of inquiry, more than suggested that he was in deep political hot water...However, a new State Comptroller, commonly known as Goldberg, conducted a last minute investigation of his own and found that Barak was right as rain.

Then came the flood of indictments against the Likud. Justice Minister Tzahi Hanegbi and Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon were on the way to indictments for bribery, ( in Sharon's case for a crime supposedly committed in 1982), while former chief Netanyahu aide Avigdor Lieberman allegedly threatened the honest working of the police force with his racist and inflammatory remarks about it. Three kingpins in a row were toppled by the attorney-general and the Israeli media doesn't want to check if this is a coincidence or if the judiciary is being exploited to turn around some election results.
Meanwhile, under enormous public pressure, the Shabak agitator Avishai Raviv, who was used by the Leftist political establishment to secure support for then PM Yitzhak Rabin, was finally indicted, sort of. He will have to face trial but not for incitement to murder, instead for not doing enough to prevent a murder. As pathetic an indictment as it was, the judiciary put off the trial until July 6, well after Barak is safely in power. Must I add that coverage of Raviv's indictment was a one day, perfunctory affair instead of the continuing front page story it deserved to be. Which brings up another two word phrase the media and all political parties have not raised, even once:

3. Rabin Assassination: If Rabin was actually murdered by a right wing fanatic, Labor and Meretz would be running amok blaming the Right for the act. But they know that was not the case, and they also know Likud will pull out all stops releasing the facts if the Left dares to exploit Rabin's demise in its campaign for parliament. So there is no mention of the assassination in the media whatsoever, and sadly, I am a victim of this hush-up.
The biggest secret the media is withholding is that the Hebrew version of my book Who Murdered Yitzhak Rabin is a runaway bestseller in its first week on sale. I received the following information, and I trust the source: The book is causing profound consternation in the Labor/Meretz camp, as it exposes and names the folks behind the murder as coming from this camp. A 1/3 page ad for the book placed by its publisher Gefen Books in Haaretz was the last straw. The Rabin family itself sent out word that the media will not touch the book, discuss its contents or ever mention my name in print or electronically, ideally, forever. High ranking politicians and military officers were recruited to instill this message with editors and producers. There was no problem convincing them, lest this book of mine influence Barak's chances for victory.
This election is one huge media manipulation, characterised not by what it is reporting, as by what it is not. And that's just the way Barak likes it.

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To receive the Hebrew edition of Who Murdered Yitzhak Rabin, contact Gefen Books at isragefen@netmedia.net.il
or phone 02-5380247.