Behind the Headlines Controversy over Organized Crime

Whether organized crime exists in Israel and what to do about it if it does has emerged as a major public controversy here. The issue, which has been raised publicly be fore, emerged again last week when Likud MK Ehud Olmert said he has documents to substantiate his charge that organized crime exists in Israel and called for a parliamentary investigation.

Police Inspector General Haim Tavori met Friday with Interior Minister Yosef Burg to discuss plans for reorganizing the work of the police against crime. In a radio interview today, Tavori declined to call it organized crime, but said the police did have a file of a number of suspects whose guilt they were systematically trying to prove. Tavori said one of the main problems was presenting the courts with sufficient evidence to prove those suspects’ guilt. However, he said, to speak about organized crime is an exaggeration.

Tavori’s denial of organized crime in Israel is not the first. Ever since there was talk of an emergence of an Israeli “Mafia,” the authorities refrained from admitting its existence, most likely in order to avoid public hysteria and perhaps spare police from criticism for having allowed organized crime to develop.

However, recently there have been several developments that forced the police into action. One such development was a statement by the former chief intelligence officer in the police department, Shmuel (Sami) Nahmias, who charged that the present police structure was not capable of coping with organized crime. He suggested that a special body be set up for that purpose which would work with the coordination of the Mossad, Israel’s secret service.

Nahmias resigned from the police over “differences of opinion” with Tavori. The differences, some observers noted, appeared to be over the scope of organized crime and methods of combating it. Nahmias has sent a memorandum to Premier Menachem Begin asking him to consider setting up a special body. So for, however, there has been no reaction from the Premier’s office.

OLMERT IN DISPUTE WITH ZEEVI

Meanwhile, Olmert, who at 31 is one of the youngest members of the Knesset and who has devoted a great deal of his parliamentary career to studying the Israeli underworld, has engaged in a dispute with Reserve Gen. Rehavam Zeevi, former commander of the central command and an advisor on anti-terrorism to former Premier Yitzhak Rabin. Olmert charged that Zeevi threatened him following hints by the MK that “senior army officers” were involved in organized crime. Zeevi denied that he had made any threats against Olmert but announced today that he would sue the Knesseter for libel.

Olmert said he did not say Zeevi was involved with organized crime but he referred to the General’s friendship with Bezalel Mizrahi, of Tel Aviv, one of Israel’s most successful building contractors. “I have no legal proof of Mizrahi’s involvement in criminal actions, “Olmert said. “But there is definitely an accumulation of Mizrahi’s involvement with criminals, and with criminal events, which raises deep suspicion.”

Asked about his relations with Mizrahi, Zeevi said today: “Mizrahi is a very good friend of mine. If he is involved with the Mafia, then I have a problem. But I don’t believe he is. “Hoaretz, in an article today on Mizrahi, described him as the financer of many of the activities of organized crime in Israel. It is the first time that specific allegations were made against the man, known for his close relations with many of Israel’s high society.

Mizrahi, 42, and a fifth-generation Sabra, is the owner of a chain of hotels his construction company, Elishav, built throughout the country. He was also involved in a number of building projects for the government. There was no immediate public reaction by Mizrahi to the Hoaretz article, but allegations and counter-allegations are gradually developing into the most involved crime story since the State was born.