Holy Holyland Corruption, Batman

Cartoon credit: the amazing Shay Charka.

With every passing day, new names are publicized as suspects in Israel's largest corruption scandal, ever. The "Holyland" building complex in Jerusalem is a terrible eye-sore, and no one can possibly drive by it without wondering, "how in the world was such a monstrosity ever approved to be built, totally ruining Jerusalem's skyline?"

The answer obviously, corruption.

As the police dredges through the sewers of Israel's past and present politicians, the scandal has grown to include other real-estate projects through the country, including "Tzuk Manara" near Kiryat Shmona and the Dead Sea Hotel district.

To date the following names have been publicized as suspects and/or connected to the case.

- R' Ovadia Yosef, Shas Spiritual Leader [source]
- Foreign Minister, MK Avigdor Lieberman (Yisrael Beiteinu) [source]
- MK Ruhama Avraham (Kadima) [source]
- past-MK Danny Naveh (Likud) [source]
- past-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (Kadima) [source]
- Shula Zaken (Olmert's office manager) [source]
- Attorney Uri Messer (long-time confidante, senior Olmert aide) [source]
- Meir Rabin (Chareid Askan) [source]
- Uri Lupolianski (Former Jerusalem mayor, UTJ) [source]
- Yehoshua Pollack (former Jerusalem deputy mayor, UTJ) [source]
- Yaakov Efrati (former Israel Lands Authority chairman) [source]
- Dan Dankner (former Bank Hapoalim chairman and former Israel Salt Industries owner) [source]
- Eli Simhayoff (former Jerusalem deputy mayor, director of the Danya Cebus construction company) [source]

Additional names that have popped up as secondary connections.

- Aliza Olmert, wife of former PM, Ehud Olmert. Were her lame paintings sold for thousands, as a means of giving Ehud Olmert a cash infusion? Leading businessmen reportedly own her paintings, including Alrov tycoon and chairman Alfred Akirov, Dov Lautman, and Adv. Ram Caspi. [source]

- Supreme Court Justice Edna Arbel. She's good friends with Uri Messer's wife...and also owns a luxury apartment in the Holyland building monstrosity. [source]

Don't forget, there's the censored, media blackout on the State's Witness, reportedly a senior member of Israel law-enforcement or judiciary branches...I can't print this person's name yet, or provide any hints as to their identity.

Of course, everyone is innocent till proven guilty; except for Ehud Olmert.

Stay tuned - many more names to come...

Visiting Israel?Learn to Shoot at Caliber-3 with top Israeli Anti-Terror Experts!Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

Who wants the Hamptons, when Israel is home?

Nothing like a refreshing investment message from the New York Times; just in time for my trip to the US, the following appears in the NY Times, "Choosing Israel, Not the Hamptons"

AS an associate professor of clinical surgery and chief of high risk programs at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Dr. Freya Schnabel is an unlikely international real estate pioneer. But as one of the first buyers in Eden Hills — a planned community 15 minutes southwest of Jerusalem — Dr. Schnabel, who is 49, is emblematic of a new breed of visitor to Israel: the foreign vacation-home buyer.

Tel Aviv's Manhattan Makeover Indeed, from downtown Tel Aviv to the heart of Jerusalem, foreigners — especially Americans — searching for second homes are redefining Israel’s high-end real estate market. Part of Tel Aviv is, in fact, in the midst of a mini-Manhattan makeover with the recent arrival of New York-style residential projects designed by the likes of Philippe Starck and Richard Meier. Even Donald Trump has entered the Tel Aviv marketplace with plans for a 70-story residential and commercial tower — Israel’s highest — in the suburb of Ramat Gan.

Granted, the article isn't pushing aliya, but investing in homes in Israel is a great first step towards moving there. This positive mindset is apparent, by the end of the article:

For buyers like Dr. Schnabel and Dr. Josephs — who expect to move to Eden Hills by 2009 — rising prices and edged-out locals seem a world away from their still-pristine slice of ancient Judea. With homes ranging from $400,000 to well over a million, Eden Hills is priced to appeal to buyers accustomed to living among the parks, tennis courts, artificial lakes, bike trails and tree-lined pedestrian malls typical of high-end American subdivisions. Such attributes, along with numerous synagogues, are designed to lure Eden Hills’s wealthy, Orthodox American target audience — and keep them there.

Dr. Schnabel is already practicing for her new, part-time life in Israel with monthlong stays in Jerusalem apartments to gain a sense of the country off the typical tourist track. And Dr. Josephs is so bullish on Israel that he has bought four separate Eden Hills lots for himself and his children.

“I am actually thinking of Eden Hills as my primary residence,” Dr. Josephs said, adding that, eventually, “I will live in Israel, and then visit my second home — in New Jersey.”

Amen.

hat-tip; CG





Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael