Gaza Rockets Put Damper On Ashdod Port Corruption

Ashdod, July 8 – Workers and managers at this southern port city have had to take shelter repeatedly from incoming rockets launched from the Gaza Strip, disrupting work and severely limiting the amount of corruption that can be accomplished during the course of a regular day’s work.

Cronyism, nepotism, bribery, kickbacks, and extortion have plagued the port for decades, and the chairman of the longshoremen’s union there was recently indicted on multiple corruption charges. His attorney, as well, was charged earlier this week after he was recorded offering to bribe police to close the investigation against the chairman. In recent days, however, as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist organizations have fired volleys of rockets at Israeli cities and towns, the pace of bribery, blackmail, and ethics breaches at the port has slowed to historically low levels.

Longshoremen and supervisors alike complain that they cannot get even a modest amount of extortion accomplished under such conditions, are called on the government to act swiftly to silence the rockets. “The reinforced shelters in which we are supposed to take refuge are completely unsuitable to issuing veiled threats over the phone,” lamented Siluf Shohad, who has worked as a longshoreman and henchman at the port since 1998. “The acoustics are terrible, so we have to be more explicit than we want to about what we mean, which can be used as evidence if the guy on the other end is recording the call.”

The unethical behavior at the port was already less visible since the announcement of the investigations and indictments, but the outbreak of hostilities over the last week has all but stopped it entirely. “It’s one thing to be more subtle about hiring relatives without going through a competitive process, or any vetting whatsoever of the candidate,” explained Iyum S’chita, a shift supervisor. It’s another to actually have to lug briefcases full of cash into a bomb shelter so they don’t get stolen from your office.” He said the shelters were often so crowded with such briefcases that there was barely room for the workers to walk around.

“We demand that Bibi Netanyahu take whatever steps are necessary to bring these rockets to a halt so we can return to business as usual,” the longshoremen said in a statement. “And he’ll do as we say if he knows what’s good for him.”