Integrity in Israeli politics

Re: ‘ Bibi- fatigued’ Israel faces spectre of war. Vivian Bercovici, Feb. 17

I must take strong exception to Vivian Bercovici’s suggestion that Israelis always thought of their Prime Ministers as corrupt individuals.

The politics and policies of leaders like David BenGurion or Menachem Begin and some others may not have been to the liking of many of their contemporary countrymen, but few among them would have questioned their integrity and honesty. Their lifestyle was relatively simple and they and their wives would have had little or no use for expensive jewelry or hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of champagne and cigars.

Even Benjamin Netanyahu’s own erstwhile mentor, the late Yitzhak Shamir, a decidedly simple and unsophisticated but straightforward man, would be thor- oughly disappointed seeing what has become of his star protégé, basking in luxury at others’ expense. Tamas Somogyi, Thornhill, Ont.