Ha’aretz reports:
Ex-soccer star Revivo leaving Israel following underworld ‘banishment’
By Amir Zohar
News that former soccer player Haim Revivo is leaving Israel with his family made big waves this week, particularly after Yedioth Ahronoth reported that the reason is an argument with criminals.
According to underworld sources, Revivo became entangled with a merchant with a criminal record, and in an arbitration between them was “sentenced” to exile from Israel.
The arbitrator, on whom Revivo and the merchant had agreed, was [name withheld so ck doesn’t get exiled from Israel], a criminal from Ashkelon whom the police consider a crime boss. According to the source, [name withheld so ck doesn’t get exiled from Israel] initially ruled that Revivo must pay the merchant a large fine, but major players in the [other name withheld so ck doesn’t get exiled from Israel] crime family, who kept criminals away from Revivo in the past, did not accept the verdict.
[name withheld so ck doesn’t get exiled from Israel] became angry at this, the sources said, and toughened the punishment: He increased the fine and ruled that Revivo must go into exile. Then came Revivo’s announcement that he is moving to the United States, at the advice of a rabbi, he claimed, with no connection to threats on him.
Charming little story, huh?
Of course, the PM takes cash in envelopes and the former Treasury Minister is indicted on corruption charges (and there are rumors he was involved in other underhanded activity), and the police doesn’t bother shooting at terrorists who are busy killing people even when they stand nearby them with a gun in their holster. So why should we expect anything but a story where a criminal can order a man and his family to leave the Jewish state? Simply to leave. The corrupt incompetents who run the country can’t deal with people like [name withheld so ck doesn’t get exiled from Israel] because they have no moral authority and the system is clearly breaking down because there is no reason for people to respect the rule of law when their leadership doesn’t.
The problem is that rooting out the “Underworld” is a difficult task once it gets established, just as getting rid of banana-republic type corruption is quite challenging and undermines the integrity of entire governmental and police systems.
This is a very troubling and sad story. What makes it worse is that it’s not surprising.
It is frustrating, and especially as it seems that there is nothing that an ordinary person can do….
You are not an ordinary person. Far from it.
Thank you for every other informative blog.