Philip Hyams

As the noose grows tighter around Ehud Olmert's political career, his departure will continue to mean nothing to most Israelis, as the biggest criminals around them continue to live lavish lifestyles, not yet behind bars, waiting for their cases to come to court.

Katsav the accused rapist president is fighting to keep his millions of shekels in future pension rights and benefits, even as his case costs the state - meaning us - hundreds of thousands of shekels. He' s free.

Hirshsohn, Olmert's friend, indicted for theft of public money to the tune of millions of shekels is still free and waiting for his case to come up.

So we have a triad of criminals (now way beyond suspect) - who arrogantly continue to live the good life, defended by the best and most costly legal teams in the country, and we common Israelis are waiting to see if they will ever serve a day in jail once convicted.

The failure of Israel in the Second Lebanon War was largely due to Olmert, Amir Peretz and Dan Halutz (an arrogant air force general) who got away with a wrist slap, for the part he played in the deaths of more than 100 Israelis due to lack of experience, in tandem with Olmert's and Peretz's lusts to stay in power.

Democracy. Don't make us laugh. Goverment institutions like don't hesitate to pursue the average Israeli for a few hundred shekels that might have been overlooked - but when it comes to the Knesset and its band of cutthroat dealmakers and crooks - there are other laws at work. Mazuz, the inept Attorney General knows this.

Most probably these accused and soon-to-be accused felons will never see the inside of any prison for their crimes...and that is the tragedy of Israel today. We pay, we die, we send out children to fight and the political echelon pisses on the people while laughing all the way to the bank and most probably out of their criminal sentences.