The real corruption

Having read “Is Netanyahu corrupt?” (Editor’s Notes, December 22), I wonder why the public and the media do not concentrate on the real corruption that affects all Israelis on a daily basis. I refer to the strength of the bureaucrats and the trade unions who run and influence our daily lives to the detriment of all.

In Israel, if one wants to erect a building, it takes three years or more to get all the building permits. Our prime minister has railed against this expensive waste of time and demanded that it should not take more than six months, as in most developed countries. Who won? The bureaucrats, who get well paid for doing their work slowly and who thumb their noses to the public.

In my town, Rehovot, Ahad Ha’am Street needed to be repaved. After six months, half the job has been done. Why? The powers that be don’t care. Four people were generally on the job, five days a week, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. This inadequate workforce also worked at a snail’s pace. The citizens have to deal with the traffic snarlups. Where is the anger?

Teachers go on strike, airport workers go on strike, hospitals go on strike, because they have the power of the monopoly of the labor supply and their trade unions back them up.

These examples are the corruption that affects our lives. Yet the media is obsessed with a few dozen gifted cigars that do not affect the lives of a single citizen.

Where is the balance? Where is our common sense? DUNN RABINOWITZ Rehovot