Opposition politicians began pressing yesterday for the resignation of Israel's Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, after the Attorney-General ordered a police investigation into illegal funding and allegations of fraud in the election campaign that brought him to power last year.
Mr Barak, in what is becoming a familiar mantra amid a welter of high-level corruption cases in Israel, insisted that he had done nothing wrong. "I wasn't specifically involved in any of the [fundraising] activities," he said. But leaders of the opposition Likud party told him to "stop whining," and mocked his claim to have been unaware that a vast network of non-profit groups was raising funds for his campaign in defiance of election law. "In a normal country," said Likud Knesset member Mr Tsippy Livni, "the Prime Minister would resign."
The police inquiry, which is set to begin on Sunday, was prompted by yesterday's release of a bombshell report by the State Comptroller, former Supreme Court Justice, Mr Eliezer Goldberg, into campaign finances for the May 1999 elections, in which the moderate candidate, Mr Barak, defeated the Likud incumbent, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu.
Justice Goldberg found that Mr Barak's supporters had systematically "trampled all over the law," by using numerous non-profit organisations to funnel 5.2 million shekels (about £1 million) into campaign activities. The State Comptroller questioned Mr Barak before publishing his report, and was assured by the Prime Minister that he had instructed his supporters to act only within the law. But merely issuing such an instruction was simply not good enough, Justice Goldberg concluded.
Mr Barak, as the head of the campaign, should have supervised his supporters more carefully. "A red light should have lit up." The police inquiry constitutes a grave blow to Mr Barak's image as a leader of integrity, and will discomfit him hugely as he attempts to negotiate a peace treaty with Syria and a permanent accord with the Palestinians. It is likely that he will be called in for police questioning. It is likely, too, that his cabinet secretary, Mr Yitzhak Herzog, who supervised much of the campaign funding, will come under enormous pressure to quit. Justice Goldberg refrained from suggesting that Mr Barak should do likewise, stating instead that it should be "up to the public to draw its conclusions."
At a hurriedly convened press conference, Mr Barak said that while he respected the State Comptroller, he rejected the report's findings, arguing that he could not have been expected to delve into every aspect of his fundraisers' activities. Mr Barak and his aides also argued that their campaign funding strategy was identical to that employed by Mr Netanyahu in his 1996 election campaign. Mr Barak is planning an appeal to the Supreme Court against a £2.5 million fine imposed by the State Comptroller on his One Israel party.
This new inquiry comes at a time when Mr Netanyahu, State President Ezer Weizman, a former justice minister, a newspaper magnate and several top policemen are also under investigation.
"We're living in a climate of lies," said the Likud leader, Mr Ariel Sharon. "Our system is collapsing."
Mr Barak has not yet decided whether he will attend the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, one of his spokesmen said yesterday. Earlier this week his office said he was considering cancelling his attendance because meetings were scheduled for the Jewish sabbath.