Slippery Slope

MK Miri Regev, Chairwoman of the Knesset Internal Affairs and Environmental Protection Committee, ordered her security guards to prevent an Eritrean man from entering a bus she was travelling in during a tour the committee conducted in the Central Bus Station area of South Tel-Aviv. (972mag)

(Hebrew – Srugim)

The Ministerial Committee for Legislative Affairs approved a bill proposed by Minister of Interior Gideon Sa’ar which would forbid African migrants from sending money abroad. (Haaretz)

(Hebrew – Haaretz)

Journalist Shalom Yerushalmi claims that Minister of Education, Gideon Sa’ar (Likud), received a complete “defensive shield” from publication of uncomplimentary items about him from former Ma’ariv editor, Nir Hefetz.

(Hebrew Audio – Seder Yom)

During his tenure as Minister of Agriculture, Yisrael Katz (Likud) founded the Plant Board and used it as a tool for political appointments. (Haaretz)

(Hebrew – Haaretz)

A letter sent to “Globes” newspaper, allegedly written by an adviser to a senior Likud minister, details improper behaviour by the minister. The letter further alleges that a large media outlet has shelved an investigative report on the subject.

(Hebrew – Globes)

The Likud party rejected a call to sign a cross-party Jewish-Arab equality covenant. (Haaretz)

(Hebrew – Haaretz)

A new reporter, Ze’ev Schneider, was recently appointed to the news division of the national radio broadcaster, Kol Yisrael, without being assigned a regular field of coverage.  Schneider has no prior experience in journalism, and did not pass a journalism course.  Schneider’s father is Nehemia Schneider, a Likud activist who serves as a paid advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

(Hebrew – The Marker)

Minister of Finance, Yuval Steinitz (Likud), signed off on a map of national priorities, which provides tax benefits for land purchases for housing in 660 communities, including 87 settlements in the West Bank.  Frontier communities which have been targeted by rockets from the Gaza Strip were not included in the list. (Haaretz)

(Hebrew – Ynet)

Minister of Education, Gideon Sa’ar (Likud), said last week that the achievements of Israeli pupils in an international test in mathematics “reflect a transformation”, even though the ministry knew that a comparison between the results of the latest test and the previous ones is not possible.  At the bottom of pg 422 of the TIMSS 2011 report there is a note stating that “data [are] not comparable for measuring trends to 2011, primarily due to countries improving translations or increasing population coverage.” (Haaretz)

(Hebrew – Haaretz)

Minister of Regional Development and Deputy Prime Minister, Silvan Shalom (Likud), admitted that the selection of the three jurists who prepared the Levy Report – retired Supreme Court Justice Edmund Levy, former Foreign Ministry legal advisor Alan Baker, and retired Judge Tchia Shapira – was not coincidental.  Shalom was caught on tape admitting to a closed Likud event that the three were handpicked to produce desired findings, and that Justice Levy was selected because he was formerly a Likud member. (Times of Israel)

(Hebrew – Walla!)