Published: 27 May 2020
Last updated: 4 March 2024
AFTER ALMOST 500 DAYS and three divisive and inclusive election campaigns, Israel finally has a government. After weeks of negotiations, incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his nemesis challenger Benny Gantz established an emergency, national unity government to deal with the coronavirus and its aftermath.
Except that the government has nothing to do with emergency and is certainly not unified.
The government that Netanyahu and Gantz formed is bloated and contentious. The last government had 23 ministers and only a few deputy ministers; this one has no fewer than 34 ministers (with two more to be appointed) and 16 deputies. Some of these ministries are so ludicrous and fictitious that even their appointed ministers aren't sure what they are supposed to do.
There is now a Ministry for Intelligence, which is separate from the Ministries of Strategic Affairs, Defence, Regional Cooperation, or Energy. There is a Ministry of Higher Education, which somehow also includes Water Resources but is not part of the ministry of Education. There is a Ministry of Community Development, which is not connected to the Ministries of Social Equality or the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Social Services.
This crudely-sewn set of patches is connected by a single purpose: to placate the politicians from the coalition parties and give them a job (complete with office, secretary, car, driver, salary and budget) so they won't angry at Netanyahu, who needs them to be docile, satiated, and in his debt.
Since at least two, and as many as four, ministries deal with every imaginable topic, local and regional authorities, civil society groups and individuals will have no idea who to turn to.
To this end, Netanyahu and all of the ministers who are participating in this self-serving farce are willing to abdicate any responsibility to their constituencies and trample on the rule of law.
The cost of these ministries shows just how hollow the declaration that this is an "emergency government" really is. Unemployment is at 26% and data released by the Finance Ministry shows that the workers who lost their jobs – whether laid off or placed on unpaid leave had a lower than average salary than the national average.
Furthermore, according to an analysis by the Israel Democracy Institute, the economy will not reach the full employment level registered pre-coronavirus crisis for a very long time. In June, the number of unemployed is expected to be around 11.2%, the highest rate since 1992. Yet these ministers aren't even apologetic about the estimated NIS 100 million (A$34m) that their unnecessary ministries will cost annually.
Even worse, these ministries will not be able to provide service to the public. Not only will it take weeks (or months) for the new offices to be established, telephone numbers and emails to be transferred and reassigned, offices to be allocated, and other logistical issues to become operational, these will be offices without organisational history and differing (conflictual?) ideological views and legal interpretations.
Since at least two, and as many as four, ministries deal with every imaginable topic, local and regional authorities, civil society groups and individuals will have no idea who to turn to.
Who will be responsible for the dramatic increase in gender-based violence against women? The Ministry of Internal Security? Labour, Social affairs, and Social Services? The Ministry of Justice? Or maybe the Ministry of Social Equality?
Who, for example, asks Shaul Amsterdamski, economic correspondent for Channel 11, will be responsible for the dramatic increase in gender-based violence against women? The Ministry of Internal Security? Labour, Social affairs, and Social Services? The Ministry of Justice? Or maybe the Ministry of Social Equality?
Israel's notorious bureaucracy, which already requires that entrepreneurs obtain a seemingly infinite number of permits from numerous government authorities – and which Netanyahu promised to limit – will now find it even more difficult to establish a business. This will only handicap the economy even further.
The ratio between the number of ministers and the number of Knesset members – 52 MKs (43 percent) of the 120 members of the Knesset are either ministers or deputy ministers. This defies basic democratic principles. With so many ministers, the Knesset will have neither the numerical power nor the clout to oversee the government and participate in the numerous parliamentary committees where the real work of the legislative branch is supposed to take place.
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To be sure, in theory, there could be advantages to this huge government. With vision, this government, made up of political enemies and ideological dissension, could help to guide the country to decrease the polarisation and enmity that are eating at Israeli society from within.
With the best will, the government could use its broad mandate to generate the reforms that are so desperately needed, not only to resuscitate economy, but also to ensure a dignified standard of living to all of Israel's citizens.
But this government has neither vision nor will. Its only vision is to keep Netanyahu in office. The only will that the ministers have shown is to maintain their portfolios.
The "emergency unity government" government has already met and taken its first decisions. It did not decide how to hand out the promised NIS 6 billion ($A2.6b) economic stimulus package that has been held up due to lack of agreement between the different ministries (and that was in the time of the previous government, when there were "only" 23 ministers).
It did not issue clear regulations regarding coming out of lockdown. It did not discuss the emergency created by the spike in gender-based violence. It did decide that every child should visit Jerusalem three times during his school years. It did not have the vision to discuss what the children will learn about Jerusalem, Israel's most polarised and divided city, or what values these mandated visits are supposed to inculcate.
This government has neither vision nor will. Its only vision is to keep Netanyahu in office. The only will that the ministers have shown is to maintain their portfolios.
It did not have the political will to discuss how the schools should reopen and the digital and other socio-economic gaps that have plagued the educational system and are likely to get worse.
By agreeing to take on these ministries, these ministers, many of whom have absolutely no political experience in wielding power, are giving Netanyahu the power to continue to incite against the legal system, polarise the population, and promote his paranoid delusions about the “Deep State” that dares to put him on trial on charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust.
Publicists have condemned, the public has demonstrated, and the government has been sworn in, and Israeli cynical humour has gone into gear. On Facebook, people are lampooning the situation with suggestions for additional useless ministries (Minister of Karaoke, Minister of Lokschen and Cholent; Minister for Possible Zombie Invasion Affairs, Minister of Curly-Hair-When-It's-Humid-Outside). Some want to know if Zeev Elkin, Minister of Higher Education and Water Resources, intends to go with the flow and create a new faculty of plumbing at Hebrew University.
But Zehu Zeh, ("That's It,") the popular wild satirical program, summed it up best when it presented Israel's newly appointed "Minister of F… the Public."
Illustration: Avi Katz
