Different states – Different standards

I see an Israeli court has sentenced Ariel Sharon’s son Omri to nine months in jail for illegally funding his father’s 1999 campaign.

“This is a swamp of political corruption and it must be dried up,” Judge Edna Beckenstein wrote in the ruling.

So what did Omri do? Seems he broke party funding laws and committed perjury. Is that all? That kind of thing is a national pastime here.

Out in his mansion in Kinsealy, Haughey, our most accomplished perjurer, lives in luxurious retirement. No worries about jail for him as he basks in praise from our current leader who recently described Charlie as a “wonderful man’.

Here’s some of what the Jersusalem Post had to say.

‘Like the public, and perhaps under the influence of public opinion, the courts are becoming increasingly intolerant of corruption by public figures. The 2003 election for the 16th Knesset was a milestone in public revulsion against this kind of corruption, when every day seemed to yield a new scandal.’

How long will it be before Irish public opinion wields such power?