The Gaidamak Phenomenon

Arkady Gaidamak, a very wealthy Russian Jew, now domiciled in Israel, wanted in France for illicit arms trafficking to Africa, has been doing a lot to put his name before the public. He’s been on TV, advertised cellphones (I think), and in general made a spectacle of himself. I haven’t seen much of him because I don’t own a TV. But I think he bears watching now, because he just bought himself an Israeli political party. He promised three unmemorable members of the Pensioners Party to fund their next political campaign if they break away from their mother party and become his party, possibly sending him to sit as their representative in Olmert’s government (or Tzipi Livni’s, or whatever. Stay tuned for our take on Tzipi). The Knesset’s legal adviser has determined that the agreement between Gaidamak and the pensioners—they provide the party, he provides the cash to get ‘em elected—is illegal. It will take a few days until Gaidamak finds a competent lawyer to write up the patently illegal deal in legally acceptable language.

Gaidamak has made a name for himself in Israel not just by making a spectacle of himself on TV but by engaging in large-scale acts of charity. He’s provided aid to refugees from Gush Katif. He provided vacations and outings to hundreds of Sderot families. He bought Bikur Holim hospital in Jerusalem, which caters to the impoverished Haredi population of the city, covered its deficit and put it back in business. In part, he did so precisely to increase his name recognition and popularity in Israel. So what could be bad?

He’s done other things as well. He bought Israel’s premier soccer team, Betar. And he bought a radio station, all the licensed television stations already being owned. This resembles a pattern, and the pattern set off alarms in my head. You see, that’s what Russian oligarchs do. They always buy a leading sports club and a TV station (there are more available in Russia) to round out their immense holdings, because owning a sports club makes them popular, popularity helps draw listeners to their media outlets, and their media outlets serve to defame their enemies and manipulate public opinion in favor of their business and political interests.

Gaidamak has formed a political party, “social justice.” It sounds good and goes well with Betar and with Bikur Holim, both of which cater to Israel’s poorer population. At first he declared that he was confining himself, for the time being, to local politics, i.e. running candidates in elections in Israeli municipalities, which are scheduled for November. It’s widely believed that he bought Bikur Holim to curry favor with Haredi politicians, so that they will agree to back him for mayor of Jerusalem. He was going to leave the Knesset for later. But a good businessman has a nose for opportunity, and when the option of buying a minority stake in the Pensioners’ Party, came on the market, Gaidamak exercised it.

Gaidamak’s political career is still very raw. When he first got here and bought Betar, he said he was going to use the club as a platform for promoting Jewish-Arab coexistence. That’s probably the last thing in the world Betar fans are interested in (Betar recently was penalized heavily because some of its fans cursed vocally during a pregame minute of silence in memory of Yitzhak Rabin). He still has to master Israel’s social and political cleavages, but he’s learning fast. Buying Bikur Holim and sucking up to the Haredi population generally is a shrewd move from his perspective. Gaidamak has done some good deeds and has a lot of fans. But I can’t help being suspicious of him. He exhibits a close familiarity with the culture of money and power that made a farce of democracy in Russia and little of the genuine commitment to democracy that characterizes, say, a politician like Binyamin Netanyahu (who should be given such credit as he’s due). When Gaidamak has a soccer club, a radio station, a political party, and in addition learns the prejudices of the Israeli public well enough to pander to them, he’ll be all set to make his bid to become Israel’s Boris Yeltsin. Or perhaps its Vladimir Putin.

As I mentioned, the Knesset’s legal adviser nixed, for the time being, the deal between Gaidamak and the three MKs currently on the market. But the law alone is not going to be enough—is never enough—to defend liberty. Only the public’s love of liberty, and its willingness to see through and resist the temptations offered by demagogues, will suffice. Do Israelis love liberty enough? The precedents of Sharon and Olmert are not encouraging.