Heilige Stadt – auf Korruptionssumpf gebaut: Ex-Bürgermeister von Jerusalem verhaftet
NZZ ONLINE: Israel hat einen neuen Korruptionsskandal. Für die Genehmigung eines Bauprojekts in Jerusalem sollen Bestechungsgelder bis zu 15 Millionen Dollar an Entscheidungsträger in der Stadtverwaltung gezahlt worden sein.

Die israelische Nachrichtenseite «ynet» beschrieb den Fall am Donnerstag als «grössten Korruptionsskandal in der Geschichte des Landes». Der ehemalige Jerusalemer Bürgermeister Uri Lupolianski wurde am Mittwochabend unter dem Verdacht verhaftet, mehr als drei Millionen Schekel (umgerechnet etwa 850'000 Franken) angenommen zu haben.

Er beschuldigte dann laut israelischen Medienberichten vom Donnerstag seinen Amtsvorgänger, den ehemaligen Ministerpräsidenten Ehud Olmert, die Verantwortung zu tragen. Die Polizei will Olmert zu den Vorwürfen befragen. Er steht bereits wegen Korruptionsvorwürfen in anderen Fällen vor Gericht. >>> sda/dpa | Donnerstag, 15. April 2010

Verbunden mit diesem Artikel / Related:

LE FIGARO: Scandale immobilier: Olmert suspect n°1 >>> AFP | Jeudi 15 Avril 2010

YNET NEWS: Olmert denies involvement in Holyland scandal: Real estate project at center of corruption affair modified after his term as Jerusalem mayor, Olmert says; former PM slams 'character assassination' attempts against him, says he was never offered or took bribe >>> Aviad Glickman | Thursday, April 15, 2010

Jews Ruining Jerusalem
YNET NEWS: Eyal Megged wants to entrust Jerusalem in Arab hands in wake of Holyland scandal

A liquidator should be appointed for Jerusalem. The city is tainted by corruption, and this corruption creates a stench all over the capital.

As is the case in other areas, every phenomenon that becomes typical to our model state is taken to the extreme in the eternal city of Jerusalem. Only the people who live here and see how it’s being constantly sold to contractors who constantly change its face can grasp the extent of this phenomenon.

Anyone with eyes in their head realizes that without big money changing hands it wouldn’t have been possible to make the city so ugly in such manner. Only dirty money can do it.

In Rehavia, for example, the old and beautiful neighborhood is being eliminated. Every second home is being demolished, to make room for larger and more glittering homes. We should be stopping the bulldozers and cranes today, and find out whether the abysses created in place of the historic homes do not hide tomorrow’s scandals. I’m sure that’s the case. Nation of greedy contractors >>> Eyal Megged | Thursday, April 15, 2010

Falling at the Feet of the Saudis
THE TELEGRAPH BLOG: I’m not sure that people have properly grasped the enormity of the BAE–Saudi affair. I mean, look at the language the high court used. The judges dismissed Labour’s contention that British jobs (let alone national security) would be at risk. It was, they said, a clear-cut case of our criminal justice system buckling under pressure from a foreign power. This ought to be such stuff as hauls down governments, pulverises reputations. Yet, after a day of harrumphing, the newspapers moved on.

Why is the nation not more outraged? “We fear for the reputation of the administration of justice if it can be perverted by a threat,” said the judges. “It is not difficult to imagine what they [the Saudis] would think if we attempted to interfere with their criminal justice system.” Quite.

So why are we taking it lying down? Why are people who normally care about British sovereignty not up in arms that we should have thrown ourselves at the feet of foreign despots?

The answer is that the whole affair has been brilliantly spun as a principle versus pragmatism issue. Unless you have been following the case with unusual interest, you will probably have formed the inchoate impression that it one of those questions that pits hard-headed hommes d’affaires against woolly-minded peaceniks. Seeing a coalition of anti-arms trade Guardianistas arrayed on one side, many Tories have unthinkingly lined up on the other.

In fact, the contention that British jobs or British interests were at stake appears wholly groundless. The judges who have picked over the whole sorry business believe that the Saudi Prince Bandar “went into Number Ten and said ‘get it stopped’”. All the bluster about security was, they thought, “a useful pretext”. Falling at the Feet of the Saudis >>> By Daniel Hannan

THE TELEGRAPH BLOG:
Grovelling to Oil Despots Demeans Us All >>> By Daniel Hannan

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)