After more than five months in which the Corona virus has wreaked havoc with our daily lives, and endless discussions about the need to have somebody in charge, somebody with both the knowledge and the experience as well as the authority to make decisions, Israel finally appointed Prof. Ronni Chamzu to be the Corona Czar.
I don’t know who coined the title “czar” for the position, because when looking a bit closer, it appears rather pompous. According to the dictionary, while the original “Czar” describes Russian rulers who were known to be dictators, today the title “Czar” is (jokingly) given to powerful politicians or government officials who are in charge of a specific issue, with expert knowledge and absolute power. The first choice to take up the position, Professor Barbash, exactly for that reason declined the offer. He would not be a Czar, and probably could only hope to be the court jester, who you could praise if he amuses you and punish if he misbehaves.
With Netanyahu, for whom the term “Czar” would be much more appropriate, at least the traditional definition of a dictator with absolute power, there is no room for decision makers, while court jesters there are already too many to count. Professsor Chamzu will have to deal with Yuli Edelstein, a disgrace to Israeli politics after his scandalous behavior as Knesset speaker, who is totally incompetent to be Health minister in the best of times and certainly in these days of crisis. Edelstein, who sits where he sits only because he is a toy in Netanyahu’s game, nevertheless will fight hard to hold on to the quasi-authority he has. And then there is Professor Hezi Levi, Director General of the Ministry of Health, who at least until now has given the impression of being logical and straightforward but is another contender in the power struggle that is the Corona virus management.
And then, on the other side of the playing field, at least ostensibly, there is the special Corona Virus Advisory committee headed by MK Yifat Sasha-Biton. The committee has shown an independence that has irked Netanyahu and his minions such as Miki Zohar which has resulted in threats against Ms. Sasha-Biton, whose political career, at least in the Likud is obviously finished. But this committee, if it is to have any value, will need to accept that somebody like professor Hamzu should be the one making medical decisions and not a couple of Knesset members.
Professor Hamzu will have to deal with the results of five months of “balagan” (this Hebrew word was invented for situations like this) and force all the various factions vying for control over the decision-making process to let him do his work and allow order to be made in the incredible mess.
One of the main, and most urgent issues he will have to deal with, is regaining the trust of the man in the street. After months of haggling about what to open what to close, how to test and who to test and where to test, the public has completely lost confidence that the powers that be, will be able to handle the Corona crisis, not the health part of it, not the economic part of it and not the social part of it. The main reason Israelis today are on an alarming level not adhering to Corona regulations, and whole groups even openly state they will defy regulations as they are being proclaimed, is the lack of coherence and political and personal interference that has marred the decision-making process and the extreme lack of clarity that has resulted. It is inconceivable that in public debate, senior politicians start to accuse each other of making decisions based on personal interests, even though in today’s political environment, it is not at all inconceivable that they are right. And of course there is the criminal proceeding against Netanyahu that no doubt controls the actions he undertakes in every respect.
So why did Professor Chamzu decide to take this job anyway? He already has a very interesting and challenging job as CEO of the Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv (Ichilov Hospital) and the fact that Barbash rejected the offer must have lit up red alarm lights with Chamzu and remind him of the sick situation he is putting himself into.
We must believe that Professor Chamzu has set out to do the only thing that the people now want: to start controlling the actions taken in the Corona crisis, and as a result will be able to start controlling the virus itself. He deserves our support and hopefully also our politicians will allow him to do his job. Professionally he certainly should be up to it. Politically we will have to wait and see.
We must also hope that the medical community, which has shown a lot of sometimes problematic and confusing diversity, will stand behind him as he undertakes his job. After all, there are many variations in opinions about the details of the disease, from how it is transferred, to how it must be treated to infection may be avoided. But the goals are clear to all: stop the spread of the virus, educate the people on the preventive measures that may and should be taken, and most of all make them believe you.
For Israel now, the most important thing will be to have politicians allow Professor Hamzu to do his job. I for one, am not very optimistic that they will.
