WIN ISRAEL 111 • A FULL-LENGTH MINK • A FABULOUS CRUISE • • A LAS VEGAS ADVENTURE WHY? BECAUSE BRICKER-TUNIS WANTS TO BE YOUR FURRIER! OUR FAMILIES HAVE OFFERED THE FINEST FUR SERVICES FOR 76 YEARS. PLEASE BRING IN YOUR VALUABLE FURS AND LEATHERS AND ALLOW US TO SHOW YOU ONE OF THE FINEST ON-PREMISE COLD STORAGE AND CLEANING FACILITIES IN THE MIDWEST AND ENTER OUR GRAND GIVEAWAY* Miriam Ben-Porat Is Lady Democracy LARRY DERFNER Special to The Jewish News ARTHUR S. BRICKER JOHN G. TUNIS FAMILY PRIDE, QUALITY & COMMITMENT SINCE 1916 MINK COAT CHOICE OF A FULL-LENGTH BLACK EMERALD OR MAHOGANY MINK COAT VALUED AT 9,000 FANTASY CRUISE LAS VEGAS ROUND TRIP AIRFARE FOR 2, TRANSFERS AND 3-DAYS CRUISING THE CARIBBEAN ON "THE FANTASY" THE SHIP OF THE FUTURE! AIRFARE AND 3 NIGHTS ACCOMMODATIONS AT THE SANDS HOTEL, INCLUDING TRANSFERS TO AND FROM HOTEL TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS BY: LINDA BURGESS OF 827-4050 HAMILTON, MILLER, HUDSON & FAYNE • Employees of Bricker-Tunis Furs & Hamilton, Miller, Hudson & Fayne not eligible *No Purchase Necessary I $8 Off STORAGE AND CLEANING HOURS: MON:SAT. 10 AM - 6 PM I $8 Off I 'Present this coupon at time of service • Discount for prepayment • Check or cash only $3 Off 855-9200 F11' It • I STORAGE ONLY • • B *cker-Tunis • Fur and Leather Storage AaMargi& 6335 ORCHARD LAKE ROAD ORCHARD MALL • WEST BLOOMFIELD I $3 Off WE HAVE A REPUTATION TO PROTECT American Protective Alarms' own 24 hour, cen- tral monitoring station is the safest, smartest way to protect your home, business or property. We've been protecting homes like yours for over 25 years. Today's systems are more advanced, more affordable and simpler to use than ever before. Michigan's MarketMakers PROPERTY PROTECTED BY AMERICAN PROTECTIVE €' ALARMS 864-8600 HOLD UP FIRE BURGLAR or C oOss Ata THE FINEST IN HOME SECURITY SINCE 1968 in Gold - Silver - Platinum • Coins and Bars "Sell Where the Dealers Sell" BNRN=TT RARITI=S COPPORATON 189 MERRILL ST. BIRM.. MI 4.8009 /*ORE (313) 644-1124 Since 1971 T he true opposition in Israel is an underground move- ment. It cuts across all polit- ical and social lines, drawing its ranks from the frustrated and the disgusted. It is an amorphous but huge mass of people, with the desire, but not the means, to lift this country out of its malaise. These are the people who accounted for 600,000 peti- tion signatures demanding a change in the system of government, an end to polit- ical hackery and corruption and extortion — and then watched the guilty ones in the Knesset bury the idea. They sit, angry and unheard, in front of their television sets and news- papers, trying not to gag over the daily tales of buying and selling, of looking out solely for number one, that are the story of political life in Israel today. * The true opposition has no party of its own, nor much of a focus. What is does have is a heroine — a 73-year-old woman who has never run for office, the state comp- troller, Miriam Ben-Porat. An editorial in the daily newspaper Ma'ariv put it this way: "Miriam Ben- Porat and the state comp- troller's office she heads are about the last chance left for decent government in Israel." The press adores her; its paeans to her have been headlined, "Lady Democracy" or, simply, "The Splendid Lady." And she has won polls as the most popular government of- ficial in Israel. Her reputation is an in- timidating one, fed by the photographs of her straight, set features and her hair combed tightly back on her head. She was a state at- torney and judge for 38 years and was elected state comp- troller by the Knesset in 1988 after retiring as deputy president of the Supreme Court. To the public, she is justice itself — rigorous and fearless. In person, she is very composed and very ex- acting, but her gaze is warm. During an interview in her Jerusalem office last week, Mrs. Ben-Porat said that "people place high hopes on me. Unfortunately they are too high. It's as if they think I can solve all the problems, and this scares me." Perhaps it's only fitting that she be scared of something; so many people on Israel's public payroll are scared of her. In her investigative reports, issued annually and periodically on the workings of government and the public sector, Mrs. Ben- Porat: • revealed that one-third of the gas masks the army distributed to all citizens during the Gulf War might not have fit properly; • criticized the govern- ment over its lack of suffi- cient preparation for the Soviet aliya; • exposed the Orthodox Shas party's mishandling of many millions of shekels in public funds; • detailed 20 years of waste in the nation's water . Politicians fear Mrs. Ben-Porat's annual investigative reports on the workings of government. management, and uncovered dozens of other shortcomings and defects. The former army chief of staff, Dan Shomron, tried everything in his con- siderable power to discredit her report on the gas masks. In the end, Mrs. Ben-Porat proved her point. Within a few months, Mr. Shomron's successor, Ehud Barak, plans to distribute replace- ment masks to people who received unsuitable ones during the war. "The report was effective, and there has been good col- laboration between the army and my office in solving the problem," she said. "The army is subject to criticism no less than others — even more because security is vital and we have to keep our eyes wide open." On the Soviet aliyah, Mrs. Ben-Porat said in November 1990: - "The heart aches over the short-sightedness, inac- tivity and failures of the government." Prime Minister Shamir reacted sharply to the report, accusing Mrs. Ben- Porat of exceeding her Continued on Page 64