Report That Organized Crime Exists, Flourishes in Israel

A special committee submitted a report to the Cabinet yesterday stating that organized crime exists in Israel and flourishes because of police laxity, weak laws and close connections by top crime figures on all levels of government.

The committee, headed by former State Attorney Erwin Shimron, recommended tough countermeasures including a revamping of the criminal code, improved police procedures and cancellation of the general amnesty for criminals that was planned in connection with Israel’s 30th anniversary celebrations this spring.

Responding to the harsh criticism of the police, Police Inspector General Haim Tabori convened his top officers yesterday morning to discuss the situation. He said, however, that he would not resign because the report made clear that the present state of affairs was not new but the cumulative result of criminal activity since the State was established.

Shimron himself said at a press conference yesterday afternoon that the State had neglected the fight against crime for 30 years. The Cabinet did not discuss the report at its weekly session yesterday but decided to devote a special session to it at a later date. Interior Minister Yosef Burg promised that the government would implement the committee’s recommendations “to a maximum extent in a minimum time.” (See separate story for reactions to the report.)

The Shimron committee was empaneled last year to determine whether organized crime did, in fact, exist in Israel. The press has been insisting all along that it did. But others contended that while there was criminal activity in the country, it was not organized. Former Attorney General Meir Shamgar, now a Justice of the Supreme Court said four years ago that there was no organized crime in Israel.

INCREASE IN CRIMES OF VIOLENCE

Nevertheless, crimes of violence have increased steadily over the years as have crimes involving black marketeering, fraud, blackmail and intimidation. The news media kept up a steady drumbeat of pressure on the authorities, supported recently by Likud MK Ehud Olmert who has launched a personal crusade against crime. A police committee was established last year but its proposals were limited to a reorganization of police work.

The Shimron committee rejected police complaints that their limited budget prevented them from coping adequately with crime. The report accused the police high command of failure to make proper use of available resources and charged that little was being done to develop new crime-fighting techniques or to train the younger generation of officers to deal with criminal offenders.

The committee also faulted the income tax authorities for failing to prevent the rapid growth of “black capital” which it estimated at billions of Pounds circulating outside of the regular economic framework and funding organized crime. The committee did not elaborate on its findings of criminal connections in government, at least not in the published sections of its report. It identified numerous top criminal leaders by name but these appeared in 10 unpublished supplements to the report.

WAYS TO COPE WITH CRIME

To cope with the alarming rise in crime, the Shimron committee recommended an abridgement of the civil rights of persons accused of serious crimes such as trafficking in drugs, blackmail and intimidation of witnesses. It proposed that witnesses be forced to give testimony even if self-incriminating. Under present law, such witnesses have the right to remain silent.

The committee also recommended that recorded confessions made before a police officer should be admitted as evidence in court without requiring the defendant to appear in person. It cited many cases in which a suspect confessed a crime to police only to plead not guilty in court.

It recommended that defendants found guilty of drug or sex offenses, crimes of violence or grand theft should not be entitled to a reduction of sentences for good behavior if they are second or third offenders. After a third conviction for the same crime, the offender should be given double the maximum penalty under law, the committee proposed.

The committee also reported that 70 percent of the criminals released under the general amnesty granted after the Six-Day War were returned to jail for other crimes.