A couple of days ago, my brother, who lives in Holland, send me a message with an article that (apparently) was quite widespread in World news media. It showed a group of Israelis, visiting one of the many nature parks in Israel, and HUGGING TREES.
In an effort to get Israelis to go out and visit the parks and nature, the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority has started a campaign to come and hug trees. The rational is quite simple: in this time of Corona, when social distancing is the rule and even hugging within the family is discouraged, come and hug a tree! Hugging is a sign of love, of giving love and of receiving love, and according to Orit Steinfeld, the Marketing Director of the authority, the tree will give you love when you hug it to give your love. (Apparently the idea was taken from the Iceland Forestry Service, who advised hugging a tree in April already).
My brother, a down-to-earth Dutch guy, was wondering if the tree hugging initiative was maybe the result of damage to the brain caused by the Corona virus. I must admit I tend to agree to his rather cynical conclusion, but on the other hand, if people feel better by hugging a tree, no harm is done. I will wait a while still, but who knows……
The thought that Corona may affect the brain popped up again last night, when I heard on the news, that our Supreme Leader, Prime Minister Netanyahu, and his minion, Finance Minister Katz, in a press conference told us about the latest government plan to fight the severe problems that the Corona crisis has caused in the economy. Everybody will receive, within the next couple of days, a sum of money from the government so that he can go out and spend it and “get the economy moving”. Every person over 18 will receive NIS 750, couples without children will receive NIS 1,500 and for every child (up to three children) a couple will receive an additional NIS 500. The plan will cost an immediate NIS 6 billion and as promised, when it passes the government (and possibly? The Knesset) will be put into effect right away and the money will be paid through the National Insurance Institute.
I believe that after so many promises and so many disappointments, the public will be very hesitant to believe Netanyahu this time and very rightly so. The economic plans put forward by the Israeli government, throwing around billions and billions of shekels have been wrought with uncertainties, lack of clarity, enormous bureaucracy, delayed payments and in many instances, due to a large variety of restrictions placed on eligibility, often no payment at all. The economic management of the Corona crisis in Israel has been marked by incompetence, lack of initiative and confusion, resulting in many, especially small businesses, to miss the boat and be left to fence for themselves.
But handing out money to every Israeli citizen? There are many people who would be happy to receive this relatively) small amount of money. The waiter who was fired when the restaurant closed. The factory worker who was put on unpaid leave months ago. The retail workers who saw the shop where they worked close up and with that lose their income. The bus driver who hasn’t driven a bus for months. But everybody????
The bank employees who carried on as usual? The senior personnel in many companies who continued working as if nothing happened? The shareholders of FOX, who received nice dividend payments only last month?
While the Corona crisis has affected many and caused hardship in many families that the government must take care of and the sooner the better. But there are many whose (financial) life was not affected, who continued to work and earn a living as before. I am employed by a large company that was designated as “Essential” and I continued working (partly from home) as usual and received a salary as usual. Moreover, my employer saw fit last month to pay all employees a “Corona Bonus” for the efforts made in the past months.
It has already been suggested by one Knesset member, that there should at least be a possibility for people who do really need this money to return it or prevent it from being send to them.
So how does Netanyahu come up with these (honestly, rather absurd) ideas? The past couple of weeks there have been more and more demonstrations. Against government handling of the Corona crisis, against the random restrictions placed on the public, the lack of coherent handling of the economic problems AND, in general against Netanyahu, being accused of serious crimes. Netanyahu’s approval ratings have fallen to an all-time low and even worse, Bennett, his most hated political rival, is moving more and more into the picture as the person most suitable to handle the crisis. (A rather absurd result of Netanyahu’s failure). So, rapid action is required. It doesn’t really matter if it is rational, if it is beneficial to the solution of the crisis. The only thing that is important is that it will help make Netanyahu regain his popularity among the masses, no matter the cost.
All in all, Netanyahu is behaving like he has been throughout this crisis, and throughout practically every issue that has come up in the past year, from elections and forming a new government to Annexation. Decisions are being made on the basis of one criteria only: Is it good for Netanyahu?
This latest “Economic Plan”, in all its absurdity can only be explained in this context. Netanyahu is doing what is good for him and only what is good for him.
But the explanation that the Corona virus affects his brain function cannot be excluded of course.
