Menachem Begin figures as the moral leadership missing in today's Israel in this article in The Forward:-

Yossi Shain, a political scientist who holds a dual appointment at Georgetown University and Tel Aviv University, believes that "we live in an era of scandals."

Omri Sharon, son of ex-prime minister Ariel Sharon, started serving a seven-month prison term last February after being convicted on campaign-funding violations. President Moshe Katsav was forced to resign in June 2007 following charges for rape and sexual harassment. His predecessor, Ezer Weizman, resigned seven years earlier under suspicion of accepting large sums of money from a businessman.

Finance Minister Avraham Hirchson resigned in July 2007 under suspicion of embezzling millions from a union he used to run, and in March of the same year, Kadima minister Haim Ramon was convicted of sexual misconduct and given a community sentence Ρ though he then returned to Olmert's Cabinet.

Shain is unconvinced that more wrongdoing exists than ever before, and believes that many of today's scandals are uncovered because politicians and the media increasingly make it their business to do so. "Everybody today is a hunter, and right now it is hunting season," he said. "We are in a phase in our nation where corruption and scandal dominate our hearts and minds."

Koren offers a different explanation: "Today's is a different generation of leaders [compared] to what we had before. They like the good life.

"Contrast them with Begin, who left office with so little that he could not buy an apartment and lived in a rental until his death. There has been a complete change in mindset of politicians, which has created a situation where even claims like the current ones do not take the nation by surprise."