Israelis have had the privilege to go to the polls to elect a parliament three times in the past 15 months and apparently this was not enough for at least some, because the talk about a fourth round of elections is getting louder by the day.
Israel is dealing with a second wave of Corona infections, significantly stronger that the first one, and every day more than a thousand new patients are identified, with a percentage of positive test reaching over 8%. The Corona crisis has brought on an economic depression like Israel has never seen and 21% of the population is unemployed or on “Leave without Pay”.
Military tensions in the north are high, Hezbollah is threatening retaliation for the dead of one of their operatives in Syria during an Israeli attack, while Israel attacks Iranian targets in Syria on a regular basis. Military tensions in the South are even higher with the return of the incendiary balloons resulting in dozens of fires, destroying agricultural land and nature areas.
But despite the country seemingly falling apart, its political leaders have no time for this. They are too busy looking out for themselves, which includes humiliating and embarrassing rivals whenever possible.
After the third round of elections, which again ended in deadlock, Benny Gantz, the leader of the Blue and White party, made a decision to sacrifice his voters and his integrity “for the sake of the country” and allowed Netanyahu to form a government even though he claimed through three election campaigns that he would never allow that to happen, Netanyahu being indicted for serious crimes. But it happened and Netanyahu who took advantage of the political inexperience of Gantz whenever possible got his way in almost every issue that came up is now doing what he knows best: lying and deceiving.
In the three months that have passed since the government was installed, the number of crises can already not be counted anymore. The coalition agreement, which is supposed to control the actions of both parties in the government, is being ignored time after time and the threat of elections is being issued about twice a day, mostly by the Netanyahu camp, causing Gantz to give in and sell out his voters even more.
Practically every critical issue (and many non-critical and trivial issues as well) that comes up is being exploited to raise tensions and humiliate the opposite side. The problem is, these issues are indeed critical. At least for the Israeli who is unemployed, for the Israeli who is ill and needs a hospital but there is no room, for the Israeli who was hoping for leadership to guide the country through the worst crisis is has seen in its 72-year existence.
So does Israel need a two-year budget or a one-year budget? Apart from the fact that by the time the one-year budget will be ready and approved, it will be September at least and only three months of the year remain, but at this point does it really make such a big difference? The coalition agreement stipulates that a two-year budget must be approved, and Gantz has continuously claimed that he will not give in on this one. What he doesn’t realize, being a political rookie and not knowing Netanyahu well enough, is that Netanyahu only needs such a steadfast remark to come into action and forcefully will defend the opposite position. Not because Netanyahu believes that a one-year budget at this time is the right thing to do. But because it will give him an opportunity to embarrass Gantz, to show that he is really in charge and to tell the people of Israel that only he can save them. What he doesn’t say of course is that with a one-year budget, he may have an opportunity to prevent Gantz from becoming Prime Minister as is agreed upon in the coalition agreement, by not allowing the 2021 budget to be approved next year, thereby forcing new elections.
And the people of Israel suffer. Since no budget is approved, and allocations to the ministries is on a basis of monthly expenditures following the old budget, many ministries are falling short and programs that are supposed to benefit the public are scrapped or postponed.
From outside the coalition, a law is introduced that would prevent anybody that has been indicted to serve as Prime Minister. But don’t be fooled, this was not done because those parliamentarians believe that an accused criminal cannot serve the public. The law was introduced only to embarrass Gantz and his party. Supporting the bill would mean that the Likud may come through on its threat and cause new elections. Not supporting the bill would mean that again you show how little campaign promises are worth and how little your voters can count on you.
And the people of Israel suffer. There is an accused criminal at the head of the government and other government members don’t do anything about it. Not because they believe one way or the other. But only because they find it in their own interest not to do anything.
These are just two (current) examples of how the fate of the Israeli people is being mishandled but there were many more instances similar to this, and by the time this article gets published there will most likely be new ones. The only thing that is actually amazing and incomprehensible is the fact that it is clear to all, that Netanyahu is the instigator of all the woes Israel and its democratic system are experiencing now, but still a large number of Israelis would vote for him. There are more and more demonstrations against him, and that may be encouraging even though it is often not clear what people are complaining about, his handling of the Corona crisis? His handling of the economic crisis? OR the fact that he is an accused criminal? And even the demonstrators become toys in his hands when he calls them leftists (when did that become a derogatory designation?), anarchists and worse, which in turn brings out the thugs that support him to attack the demonstrators. When will the people of Israel wake up?
Almost two hundred years ago, the philosopher Joseph de Maistre said “Every Country gets the Government it Deserves”.
What the hell did we do to deserve Netanyahu?????
