There is enormous creative energy in Israel. While politicians play games, scientists continue to do pathbreaking research, and entrepreneurs continue to launch thousands of new start-ups.
By SHLOMO MAITALChaos erupts in the Knesset ahead of its vote to dissolve itself on May 29(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)I am writing these words on Thursday, May 30 – last night I was glued to the TV screen until after midnight, watching the ashen face of Benjamin Netanyahu and the perplexed faces of Knesset members. It was a cliffhanger. Most of the experts did not believe that Israel’s newly elected politicians would walk right to the edge of the precipice – and take one fateful step forward.Netanyahu desperately corralled his Likud MKs to make sure they did not abscond, so he could ensure a majority to disperse the Knesset, call for new elections, and evade having President Reuven Rivlin call, for instance, on Benny Gantz (Blue and White) to try to form a government. This, even though the law clearly specifies that should Netanyahu fail, the president should canvas the remaining 119 MKs to learn whether they recommend another candidate to form a government.On May 29, the Knesset voted 74-45 to hold national elections on September 17, two weeks before Rosh Hashanah. The only Knesset member who was absent for the vote, out of 120, was Kulanu’s Roy Folkman, a brilliant and productive MK, who was undeservedly relegated to 35th place on the Likud list by Kulanu leader Moshe Kahlon, when Kulanu merged with Likud. Kahlon, of course, took care of his own interests, gaining Netanyahu’s promise of fifth place in the new Likud list for the Knesset.The contrast between the exultant Netanyahu following his electoral victory on April 9 and the crushed Netanyahu who failed to cobble together a coalition was stark. Netanyahu publicly blamed Avigdor Liberman, head of Yisrael Beytenu, for holding out for a new unchanged law drafting Haredim. A handful of Agudat Yisrael MKs, directed by their leader the Hasidic Gerer rabbi, opposed the draft law, while other MKs in United Torah Judaism appeared to support it.“Personal whims,” Netanyahu called Liberman’s motive. “Unbelievable! He’s a leftist!”Responded Liberman, “The one who lives in Caesarea [Netanyahu] calls one who lives in [the West Bank settlement of] Nokdim ‘leftist’”... “Likud members need to find a good psychiatrist.”Netanyahu has only himself to blame, for desperately seeking to force his future coalition partners to support new legislation that would enable him to escape prison if/when he is indicted later this year. For many, this narrow personal focus destroyed Netanyahu’s credibility as the nation’s leader.If the Likud wins again, and Netanyahu needs Liberman’s MKs to form a government, how will the two spatting pugilists live together in one government? And in general, how will the political Center-Left and Right collaborate in the future to govern, when the chasm between them is huge and widening?The 20th Knesset was dispersed by a vote of 102-2 on December 26. The newly elected Knesset members barely warmed their Knesset seats when the 21st Knesset was also dispersed. New elections means that the people of Israel will endure political chaos for almost a full year as the transitional government will rule Israel until a new government is formed in October or even November.Caretaker governments are ineffective.Meanwhile, the election campaign will inhale all the political oxygen for months, leaving none for desperately needed action to deal with education, pensions, infrastructure, overcrowded hospital wards, Gaza, settlements, a slowing economy, and Trump’s Mideast peace plan, now delayed or stillborn.According to the Finance Ministry, the cost of the September 17 election is 475 million shekels, “for which there’s no money in the budget.” Election Day itself is a national holiday, and the hidden cost of shutting down the economy for that day is over a billion shekels. The government budget deficit has risen to 3.5% of GDP, or possibly more, and the International Monetary Fund has cautioned that Israel needs to lower its deficit to 2.8% to maintain financial stability. But the budget is frozen, pending new elections.Is Israeli democracy broken? Perhaps. Between 1955 and 2003, national elections took place every four years, with two exceptions – after two years in 1961, and after three years in 1999. Elections were held after only two years in 2015, and now it’s twice in a single year.There is no evidence that the 22nd Knesset will be significantly different in its Left-Center-Right composition than was the 21st. If so, what then? What if the political gridlock is nearly permanent?Democracies have become unstable all over the world. The birthplace of parliamentary democracy, Britain, has found its democratic system paralyzed, with no clear majority for any policy: leave Europe, stay, vote again, or crash out.In Austria, a youthful 32-year-old Center-Right leader elected 17 months ago, Sebastian Kurz, has been kicked out in a no-confidence vote.In the European Parliament, the Center parties partly emptied, as voters went for right-wing or left-wing parties, leading to potential paralysis. And historians recall how Britain too has had episodes of two national elections in a single year – in 1910, and again in 1974, after political stalemates.Let’s put things into perspective. There are major pressing problems that should be addressed at once, but will be shelved for a year or more.In the World Competitiveness ranking for 2019, Israel ranks 24th overall in the world, falling four places in the past year. Israel ranks first in the world for hi-tech exports, but fell four places due in part to increased bureaucracy (51st in the world, down from 35th). Roads and highways are gridlocked, trains are overcrowded, and railway labor relations are disastrous. Pensions are being quietly and continuously eroded, creating great hardship among senior citizens. And economic growth is slowing down. Do those we elect even care?In the Global Innovation Index, Israel ranks 118th in the world in “political stability” even before the debacle this week, and 120th in “intensity of local competition,” as the economy is dominated by oligopolies. In “freedom from corruption,” Israel ranks only 34th.Israel may not be the first strong dynamic economy that is sunk or weakened by a broken corrupt government. According to a December 2017 report by the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI), “there is widespread dissatisfaction with Israel’s leadership and institutions. Most Israelis believe the Knesset has legislated undemocratic laws and oppose taking powers of judicial review away from Supreme Court; Israelis distrust the media and rely more on traditional media than social media.” If anything, trust in the Knesset has declined further since then.That is the dark side. Is there a bright side? Yes, there is. It is the resilience of Israelis, in general, and start-up entrepreneurs, in particular. According to the same IDI report, Israelis are optimistic about their country and its future.There is enormous creative energy in Israel. While politicians play games, scientists continue to do pathbreaking research, and entrepreneurs continue to launch thousands of new start-ups.One of the major hidden costs of the political debacle is the reluctance of bright young people to engage in politics. But perhaps their energy is best invested elsewhere in any case.In his 2003 book, Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order, Cornell mathematician Steven Strogatz explains how order emerges from chaos in the universe. The political chaos that now afflicts Israel and its people is palpable. But I believe from this chaos there will emerge a new order, new ideas, new policies, and perhaps even a reformed political system.The painful contrast between hi-tech Israel and low-life politics simply cannot be sustained. Our democracy must be fixed – and it will be.■The writer heads the Zvi Griliches Research Data Center at S. Neaman Institute, Technion, and blogs at www.timnovate.wordpress.com
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