Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Turgeman arrested
The Israel Police arrested Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Meir Turgeman on Monday as part a corruption probe involving senior officials in the capital’s municipality.
Turgeman, the head of the municipality’s Planning and Construction Committee, is suspected of accepting bribes. He was arrested along with five other officials who are suspected of fraud, breach of trust, abuse of power and tax offenses.
The police said in a statement they will “keep investigating misconduct carried out in a conflict of interest.”
They will “go anywhere there is a suspicion of public corruption that harms the day-to-day administration and the ordinary citizens,” the statement said.
The Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court extended Turgeman’s remand until Thursday.
Turgeman is suspected of accepting bribes to advance the interests of construction entrepreneurs in several locations in Jerusalem, including in the historic Post Office Building on Jaffa Street and in the Artemisia Events Hall in Talpiot.
Turgeman is said to have used his power to influence the Municipal Site Preservation Committee to allow for the breaking of walls in the historic building front. In return, one of the suspects signed a loan guarantee for Turgeman.
Turgeman announced last month he intends to run for mayor in the October municipal elections.
Turgeman’s attorney, Eitan Peleg, told The Jerusalem Post he believes his client is innocent.
“Turgeman is a loyal civil servant,” he said. “We believe that nothing will come out of these allegations. He is cooperating with the police interrogators, and we are sure that at the end of the process it will be found out that there is nothing.”
In response to Turgeman’s arrest, former Jerusalem deputy mayor and current MK Rachel Azaria said: “It is about time to clean the Jerusalem Municipality [from corruption]. There were severe cases in the past... and former council members from the Planning and Construction Committee are not sitting in prison for corruption. The mayor, along with the police, should
public is aware of all the various affairs and decides to vote Netanyahu in yet again anyhow, there will be far less pressure on the prime minister to step down after an indictment and before the cases go to court.
On the contrary, there are those arguing that Netanyahu has no interest in going to elections now because of the investigations.
According to this line of thinking, while the polls seem to be smiling on the prime minister now, polls are fickle, and it would be a gamble to dissolve the present government in the hope that the future government could be stronger. When Netanyahu called early elections in 2015, his position in the polls was also strong. But it was whittled away during the campaign, and he did not return to power with a stronger government.
Furthermore, as sources close to Netanyahu said in Washington last week, you know your situation when you go into elections, but there are no guarantees as to what will be coming out of them. In other words, there are no certainties, and even though the polls show Netanyahu gaining strength in the next elections, going there is still a considerable gamble.
Both these arguments deal with domestic considerations and are obviously the most important ones. But there are also diplomatic issues at stake now, and the question is whether calling early elections helps or hinders Netanyahu and Israel on the international scene.
Regarding the Palestinian issue, since there is not a great deal percolating right now, new elections will not impact a diplomatic process because there is no process to speak of. If anything, the lack of movement on the political track may make it a good time for him to go to the polls.
If Netanyahu waits much longer to go to elections, the US may present its much-discussed peace plan that is expected to demand concessions from both Israel and the Palestinians. No candidate who needs support from right-wing voters wants to go the polls under pressure of having to make concessions.
Whether Netanyahu calls new elections would also have no bearing on the Iranian nuclear deal. That issue is pending US President Donald Trump’s decision, which he will have to make within some 60 days, to either alter the deal or walk away from it. New elections in Israel would not impact on that decision.
Some, however, are saying that a period of electoral limbo and potential governmental confusion would invite aggressive behavior by any number of Israel’s enemies. Iran, for example, which just recently sent a drone into Israel, might think this would be a good time to test the Jewish state.
History, however, shows that Israel has no qualms about taking significant military actions in the midst of election campaigns. Some, in fact, argue that sitting prime ministers like to take significant military action during campaigns, as it boosts popularity with a population that tends to unite and rally around the flag in times of crisis.
For instance, Menachem Begin attacked the Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981, just six months before an election; Shimon Peres launched Operation Grapes of Wrath in Lebanon in 1996 just weeks before the election he barely lost to Netanyahu; Operation Cast Lead in Gaza was launched by a Kadima government in December 2008, just two months before the 2009 elections; and the Netanyahu government launched Operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza in November 2012, about eight weeks before the 2013 elections.
Elections, therefore, need not have any bearing on security decisions.
The one interest diplomatically that Netanyahu has in advancing elections is that it would put to end an to the uncertainty some countries now have toward Israel.
While governments abroad continue to deal with the current government regardless of the revelations each night on the news, the investigations and political uncertainty do generate a certain wait-and-see attitude. Do you invite Netanyahu to visit, not knowing whether he will be in power in a few months? Do you plan a visit to Israel yourself, not knowing who is going to be in power when you want to visit?
In fact, while Netanyahu has traveled extensively since the beginning of the year, there have been relatively few high-level visits here, with only four foreign ministers and not a single head of government or state having visited since January 1. Does this mean Israel has fallen out of favor? Not at all. It does indicate, however, that the world is trying to figure out who will be in charge in a few months’ time. •