1/5/97
The
truth now...
Do politicians lie? No, says Meir Porush. Yes, says Eliezer
Zandberg.
Truth is,
that's a question
most people don't
ponder, because
most people --
I'd guess 99.999
percent -- think
the issue is as
debatable as the
question ג€Are
rabbis Jewish?ג€
Ah, but
what do the politicians
themselves say?
ג€Do we
lie? You couldn't
believe me no
matter how I answer
that,ג€ said Haggai
Merom. ג€Now and
then, I admit,
even I have to
lie a little bit,
if for good
reason.
But then I pay
for it when I
look in the mirror.ג€
ג€Yes,ג€
said Zandberg
point-blank, then
smiled warmly.
ג€We have to sometimes.
Doesn't everybody?ג€
Eli Goldschmidt:
ג€Only if we have
to.ג€ Do you lie?
ג€No.ג€ Sometimes,
he said, lying
is a matter of
tact, not fact.
ג€If somebody makes
a lousy speech,
I'm not going
to tell him 'Hey,
that was a lousy
speech.' One doesn't
have to say the
whole truth. But
in important political
matters, I think
we should all
tell the truth.
ג€When an
MK is sworn in,
we take a pledge.
Maybe part of
that pledge should
be 'I swear to
uphold the truth.ג€™
ג€ Goldschmidt
grinned. ג€Then
we can all start
off as liars!ג€
Shaul Amor: ג€Yes. Just as anyone has to lie sometimes. But
white lies, nothing
that might be
damaging.ג€ Do
you lie? ג€Oh yeah,
I lie a lot,ג€
he smiled. ג€To
prevent people
from getting hurt,
of course.ג€ Just
like a little
constructive dishonesty
is needed to assuage
a squabbling couple,
Amor said, sometimes
the Likud and
Labor need to
hear dressed-up
truths about each
other to uphold
the peace.
ג€When we
have to lie for
the sake of the
public good, people
accept that. But
if it's for purposes
of manipulation,
that damages our
reputation.ג€
The question
caught Sallah
Tarif by surprise.
ג€Wow,ג€ he said
with a chuckle,
and gave what
he called an ג€unpolitical
answerג€: ג€I'd
say no, we don't
have to, except
when there's no
choice. But a
politician who's
a consistent liar
-- and there are
a lot like that
-- ooh-ah.ג€ He
declined the opportunity
to name names
-- though not
indirectly. ג€I
know a prime minister
who tells everybody
what they want
to hear. Tell
me, that's not
lying?ג€ He was
not referring
to the leader
of his Labor party.
But, uh, couldn't
the same be said
about Arafat?
ג€He's not among
the most righteous
of the world,ג€
Tarif allowed.
Do you lie?
ג€The truth? Absolutely not. It's not in my culture, my mentality.
To the Druse,
a lie is a terrible
thing. I might
have to say something
that's not entirely
true, but if I
have to lie outright,
I shut my mouth.ג€
Michael Kleiner: ג€A good politician doesn't have to lie.
Maybe some are
not such good
politicians. It
seems that honesty
is not always
the best policy
if you
want to get ahead in this business. Some of my colleagues
said that the
reason I'm just
an MK now [and
not a minister]
is that I don't
lie. I don't agree;
it was just a
matter of luck.ג€
Kleiner had no hesitation in naming his candidate for Most
Honest Politician
-- ג€Benny Beginג€
-- nor whom he
considers the
most dishonest:
ג€The mayor of
Tel Aviv, Ronni
Milo.ג€
Abdel Wahab Darawshe: ג€I can tell you only about myself:
I don't lie. I
was a school principal
and had to be
an example to
the students.
When I went into
politics, I brought
with me the same
values. I see
no reason to lie.
I think one of
the reasons for
my success in
politics is I
don't lie.ג€
How many are honest? ג€A hundred,ג€ Shevah Weiss estimated.
ג€No; 110.ג€ Has
he had cause to
be among the 10
who aren't? ג€I've
lied.ג€ Only once?
ג€Ahh, maybe a
bit more than
once. Gray lies.
For instance,
I said at a gathering,
'You're a wonderful
crowd,' and said
to myself something
different. That
kind of lie I
say maybe once
a month.ג€
Yossi Beilin: ג€Yes. But no more than ordinary people.ג€ What
troubles him are
the deadly serious
falsities. ג€If
it's a lie like
the lie Arik Sharon
told about the
Lebanon War, that's
what matters.
A little lie here
or there, that's
not really relevant.ג€
The question was posed to Ephraim Sneh -- by Beilin, both
of whom are vying
for the Labor
leadership. ג€Ephraim,
ג€˜The Jerusalem
Postג€™ here wants
to know if politicians
lie. What do you
think? Do we lie?
I said yes.ג€
Sneh: ג€I never lie.ג€
Never?
ג€Never.ג€
We weren't going to let him get away with that so easily.
He laughed. ג€Never
lie, never believe.
That's my rule
in politics.ג€
No comment, don't quote me, keep me strictly off the record,
said Benny Begin
throughout a 20-minute
interview, requesting
anonymity.
Anat Maor doesn't lie, ג€Though I don't always tell all the
truth.ג€
Dalia Itzik didn't hide her partisanship: Netanyahu does,
Rabin didn't.
ג€Rabin was one
of those people
who you wonder
how he ever ended
up in politics.ג€
With her trademark
radiant smile,
she added: ג€But
really, if we
told the whole
truth about Bibi,
it wouldn't be
nice.ג€
Meir Porush said he doesn't, nobody does, and that ג€Politicians
who lie can't
succeed.ג€ Then
he turned the
tables: ג€Do you
lie?ג€
Me?! A journalist?!
Silvan Shalom found common ground with Porush. ג€You can't
generalize. Do
all journalists
lie?ג€ He resented
being asked if
he ever lied,
and walked away.
I presume he was
mad I didn't answer
his provocation
first.
Haim Oron: ג€Why should we have to lie?ג€
Uzi Landau: ג€If you ask the prime minister if there's a
threat of war,
and he tells you
the truth; or
if you ask the
finance minister
if there's going
to be a devaluation
tomorrow: maybe
they're honest
but smart they're
not.... Like the
story of the horse
that could count
to 10: you could
say it's a brilliant
horse, but not
a brilliant mathematician.ג€
What he meant by that I'm not sure, but it sounded good.
Ravitz: ג€Lie? I don't lie. But that doesn't mean I have
to tell the whole
truth.ג€
Ruby Rivlin: ג€As long as it's understood there's a bit of
fiddling going
on, it's harmless. One lie you can get away with. Make it a
habit, and the
voters will draw
conclusions.ג€
He doesn't, he
said with a straight
face. ג€Me? I've
never lied before
now.ג€
Yossi Sarid was once asked about a certain rival. He responded
deftly: ג€I can't
lie to you, and
I can't tell you
the truth.ג€
Does Arik Sharon lie? I asked him.
ג€It's not a serious question,ג€ he said dismissively, though
amicably.
He didn't lie to me; he just chose
not to tell the
truth. So I suppose
we'll never know.
UPDATE: Israeli politicians are still telling the
truth about lying,
and lying about
telling the truth.
