Can He Keep The Power? Israel's Prime Minister vows to stay the course, b ut will his allies follow? LARRY DERFNER ISRAEL CORRESPONDENT lust because he wasn't in- minister, then was launched after media dicted doesn't mean that reports that a key coalition ally under- Israeli Prime Minister going a corruption trial pushed for Mr. Binyamin Netanyahu Bar-On's appointment in exchange for a agrees with the findings in controversial Cabinet vote. Mr. Bar-On the recently concluded was expected to offer a more favorable ruling in that trial. Bar-On investigation. In pursuing the case, the media proved While the report heaped praise on the major insti- that it could go above the head of the gov- tutions that meshed to ernment, even above the government and keep the government in line, make its investigative findings against Mr. Netanyahu insists that the powers-that-be stick. Indeed, Mr. Rubinstein their leftist leanings are at the and Ms. Arbel lauded Israel heart of the society's problems. Indeed, "replacing the elites" with "peo- .Television — which broke ple who think like we do" seemed at the the Bar-On story — for play- center of the short-lived appointment of ing a "positive role" in bring- Likud operative Roni Bar-On as attorney ing many of the facts in the case to light. This is a far cry general. Free of any charges, Mr. Netanyahu from Mr. Netanyahu's view has been more forceful than ever in his of the media's "malicious" attacks on the media for having suppos- performance. Police investigators, head- edly conspired with the left-wing politi- cal opposition in an attempt to bring down ed by Chief of Investigations Sando Mazor, were likewise his government. However, 'since last week's investiga- praised for "doing intensive investigative tion report by Attorney General Elyakim work in a most professional, unchal- Rubinstein and State Attorney Edna Ar- lengeable manner." So much for the claim by the Ne- bel, three of the "elites" that Mr. Ne- tanyahu sees as his nemeses — the tanyahu administration that Chief Ma- media, the police and the justice system zor and his officers were in cahoots with — have emerged stronger. Because they Israel Television and the Labor opposi- are each crucial to democracy, the ironic tion. Mr. Netanyahu has long said he wants conclusion is that the Bar-On Affair has badly to privatize Israel Television —both been a boon to Israeli democracy. Likewise, Mr. Netanyahu's once cen- because he thinks it is a hotbed of leftist tralized base of power is seen as dimin- bias, and because he is a great believer in selling off government-owned compa- ished. Mr. Bar-On was appointed attorney nies. But were he to do so now, he would general in early January, but an on- be accused of seeking revenge. And the slaught by the media and the legal es- outcry and challenges in the Supreme tablishment ran him out of office in two Court would be fast and furious. On a lesser level, the administration days. Mr. Rubinstein, a far superior can- didate, filled the job. A criminal investi- would likely love to fire ITV reporter Ay- gation, one recommended by the prime ala Hasson, news director Rafik Halaby, ail station manager Yair Stern and Israel Broadcasting Authority director Mordechai Kirschenbaum, but the high marks from Mr. Rubinstein and Ms. Ar- bel have secured their positions. The same goes for Chief Mazor and his team of police investigators. As for the justice system, three senior prosecutors on Ms. Arbors staff disagreed with the final decision, and joined the po- lice in recommending indictments against Mr. Netanyahu, his chief aide Avigdor Lieberman, Justice Minister Tsachi Hanegbi and Knesset Member Arye Deri. (Mr. Rubinstein and Ms. Arbel decided to indict only Mr. Deri.) As with Israel Television and the police, any attempt by Mr. Netanyahu to shake up the state prosecution and get rid of the "left-wing elitists" just wouldn't wash. Further, Mr. Netanyahu's appointee to be the political overseer of the justice system, Mr. Hanegbi, is in danger of be- ing fired. The Rubinstein-Arbel report confirmed that during the Jan. 10 Cabi- net debate on the appointment of Mr. Bar- On, Mr. Hanegbi conveniently failed to mention that Supreme Court President Aharon Barak told him Mr. Bar-On was an unsuitable candidate. As such, Likud Knesset Member Ben- ny Begin has been arguing for two months that Mr. Hanegbi should be fired. He has now been joined in this by Likud Finance Minister Dan Meridor, Trans- port Minister Yitzhak Levy and Industry Minister Natan Sharansky. So Mr. Sharansky and his Yisrael B'Aliya party, The Third Way (another coalition ally), and Mr. Meridor are now the internal opposition in the government. Each says they came close to leaving the government after the Bar-On report, but stayed because there was no conclusive proof of Mr. Netanyahu's criminal cul- pability. "As far as public norms were con- cerned," Mr. Sharansky said of the Bar- On appointment, "it stank, it really stank." To try to show good faith and deter- mination to reform, Mr. Netanyahu has made Messrs. Sharansky, Meridor and Rubinstein the heads of a committee to oversee future high-level government ap- pointments. "If this committee isn't allowed to make real changes, and turns into just anoth- er committee, then we [Yisrael B'Aliya] will be gone," Mr. Sharansky said. 'We'll know the answer within another few weeks." Mr. Meridor said of the statements coming out of the Netanyahu adminis- tration: "What I cannot accept in any way are the attacks on the media, or on the police or the prosecution. One of the lessons that needs to be learned — and I'm not sure that it has been learned suf- ficiently in government circles — is the critical, vital role the media played in ex- posing this terrible affair." The Third Way has likewise demand- ed that Mr. Netanyahu cease his attacks on the media, the police and the justice system. So the prime minister emerges from the Bar-On investigation with more hoops to jump through than before to accom- plish his agenda. Meanwhile, the control mechanisms of democracy — the media, poli- - • ,,,fic€ system, and a new, internal cli.&,c}c. in government — are doing just fine. ❑ H H