With local elections on the horizon, there seems to be a sudden police crackdown on corruption, with mayors and former mayors on trial or under investigation. The short list published this week by Yediot Aharonot is only the tip of the iceberg.Israel Radio's police reporter Adi Meiri has been reporting on corruption in city halls for quite some time, and because of her excellent connections with the police, was able to hint well in advance at the arrest this week of Hadera Mayor Haim Avitan. Other mayors who have been investigated by police, and in some cases charged with various crimes and even brought to trial, include Kiryat Malachi Mayor Moti Malcha, for sexual misconduct and building violations; Bat Yam Mayor Shlomi Lahiani, for accepting bribes; Elad Mayor Yitzhak Idan, for accepting bribes from real estate developers; Tiberias Mayor Zohar Oved, for including false information in official documents; Ramat Gan Mayor Zvi Bar, for accepting millions of shekels in bribes; Gan Yavne Mayor Dror Aharon, for theft and fraud; Ramat Hasharon Mayor Yitzhak Rochberger, for fraud; and Upper Nazareth Mayor Shimon Gapso, for accepting bribes in return for a market operating license.Gapso has also been criticized in several media outlets for his racist attitude towards Arabs, and his refusal to permit the establishment of an Arab school in an area where there is a large Arab population. Also, let's not forget former Jerusalem mayors Uri Lupolianski and Ehud Olmert, who are still on trial for the Holyland affair. With only four months to go before municipal elections, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to tell how many present incumbents will be allowed to run for another term. Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein has already declared that Ramat Gan’s long-serving mayor Bar is not fit for office. And of course, there’s no telling which of the mayors who are members of the Union for Local Authorities are going to be charged with some form of corruption between now and October.There may be much more changing of the guard than anyone realizes.WHETHER IT’S politics, sport, culture, cuisine, science or economics, the Italians are definitely showing a presence in Israel in recent weeks. One such example, the upcoming photography exhibition by Norma Picciotto, “Washed by the Same Sea,” will be held under the auspices of the Italian Cultural Institute at the Rachel Timor Gallery on Shabazi Street in Tel Aviv. Among those attending the opening on Thursday, June 20, will be Italian Ambassador Francesco Maria Talo and Italian Cultural Institute director Carmela Callea.The sea, which is the subject of the exhibition, is of course the Mediterranean, which washes the shores of both Tel Aviv and Venice. This is not a regular photographic exhibition but a series of overlapping photographs, created through a complex process of digital imaging and merging of shapes, colors, landscape and objects, into concepts that sometimes defy imagination.Though visually arresting under any circumstances, these images are even more so because they are a departure from the field in which Picciotto made her reputation.For some 20 years, she was a leading investigative photojournalist, and in 2000, she made the radical switch to her present genre. One of the co-sponsors of the exhibition is the city of Milan, which is a sister city to Tel Aviv.A DELEGATION from the Zionist Federation of the UK, which will be in Israel next week, has invited members and friends of Israel Connect Israel (ICI), a network of European olim in their 20s and 30s, to join the Brits at Tel Aviv’s Carlton Hotel at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, June 17, to hear a lecture by Brig.-Gen. (res.) Danny Gold, the former head of the IDF’s weapons and technological R&D division, who developed the Iron Dome.ICI provides its members with both political and social activities across the political spectrum, enabling them to remain politically active after moving to Israel. Many maintain a strong relationship with their countries of origin, and it is therefore important for them to have a platform through which they can enhance that connection. ICI is a voluntary organization operating under the auspices of the Zionist Federation of the UK.Most members are alumni of the federation’s pan- European leadership program, Israel Connect. ICI, which is headquartered in Tel Aviv, began operating in Israel in 2009 and regularly invites top-ranking speakers to its meetings, to generate informed debate on topics relating to Europe and Israel.US AMBASSADOR Dan Shapiro and his wife Julie Fisher on Thursday of last week hosted a reception at their residence in honor of Friends of Leket Israel-The National Food Bank. More than 100 people were in attendance and heard about Leket’s ongoing efforts to reduce nutritional insecurity, through the rescue and distribution of excess food to more than 140,000 people each week. Many diplomats host various social welfare organizations at their residences, but as Leket founder and chairman Yosef Gitler noted, the Shapiro family is a true friend of Leket – as its members have, many times, been among the volunteers who go into the fields to harvest fresh vegetables for the needy.
