In a wintry day of January 1977, Israel's minister of construction commited sucide on Tel Baruch beach in Tel Aviv. In the preceeding months a corruption affair involving two Mapai seniors. Asher Yadlin who was the designated governor of the Bank of Israel, and his good friend Avraham Offer were suspected to have accepted bribe in real estate deals. The affair, that broke out after an investigation by Yigal Laviv, a determined and persistent journalist, was taken care of by police officer Biniamin Ziggel, and Israel's young attorney genral, Aharon Barack. The two, who wanted to eradicate government corruption, initiated an investigation. The results had serious implications: Offer lost his life, Yadlin ended up behind bars, and Mapai had to hand over their power after three decades of governing Israel. The movie Disgrace raises questions about government corruption, that is as relevant as ever.
Kan