The absence of economic leadership over the past year is not the personal responsibility of Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman or Prime Minister Yair Lapid, but the presence of a government that prevents any consistent policy.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
Price increases and inflation which now stands at 5.2% are not all about politics. A significant part of inflation is a result of a global economic environment and its fluctuations. Nevertheless, analysts maintain that the transitional government is unable to initiate economic measures and lead a policy that will deal with this inflation. The leaders of the coalition that fell apart over two months ago – Justice Minister Gideon Sa'ar, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, and Lieberman, as well as, of course, Lapid – are responsible for this situation.
After the dissolution of the coalition, which from the outset was a symbolic act of irresponsible nationalism – and we can skip the repulsive concept of "statehood" – it was possible to form a stable government through a well-established process – Yamina and New Hope (Gideon Sa'ar). Israel would then have had a stable government for about three years, led by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has had experience with lowering inflation and pulling the Israeli market out of economic crises that originated around the world.
On top of the ambiguity accompanying the establishment of the outgoing government and its budget plans, we are once again facing an unclear political future. Political and economic uncertainty is the opportunity that property and business owners are waiting for in order to raise prices. Already from the outset, the media was endlessly discussing "purchase tax" and specific tax additions on fruit juices and disposable items, as well as increases, wherever possible, to finance an inflated budget. Even before the budget was approved, business owners anticipated the situation with concern and raised prices, most notably in housing. The arrogance and audacity of outgoing Minister of Housing Ze'ev Elkin are even greater than the failure of increasing housing prices by almost 20%. Just like all leaders in the current coalition, he doesn't owe anyone anything and he is not considering the greater good: He is just out to curse Netanyahu.
A reminder that inflation in Israel in 2021 was about 1.5%. In the first months of the Bennet-Lapid government, in late 2021, inflation rose to 2%. The psycho-economic rationale for the government's financial policy was that the Netanyahu-Ganz government left behind a vast deficit. So, someone decided to just pass the responsibility for the country's deficit into the private citizens' pockets.
Increasing the interest rate from 0.75% to 2% is basically aligning with the accepted and agreed upon policy by the group of small open economies – i.e. Switzerland, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Israel, Norway, Finland, etc., where inflation fluctuates between 7% to 9% (the Czech Republic is close to 20%). Switzerland is at 3.4% and Israel is in a good position between Switzerland and Sweden. It is hard to believe that Israel is able to achieve better rates than Switzerland, but it too can be below 4%.
The lack of economic leadership in Israel for the past year is not a personal matter for which Bennett, Lieberman, or Lapid, are responsible. It is inherent in the government's setup, which prevents a consistent policy. When taking office, Bennett was defined as a "libertarian" and it deems fit to recall the curious statement by former Supreme Court President Dorit Beinish, in an interview about a year ago against the Kohelet Policy Forum: "Kohelet used a very sophisticated method to infiltrate and deploy its representatives in all branches of the government, academia, and the general public. The organization is inspired by foreign worldviews, which refute everything that has been built here. Its members are extreme Republicans, with a Libertarian belief … they preach everything that Trumpism represents."
On the other hand, the government's Center-Left, like Judge Beinish, leans towards socialism and raising taxes. The resulting effect is that people lay low waiting for the government's next unpredictable whim. The usual tactic of defense is to raise prices. Ultimately, the citizen, whom the government wanted to benefit, pays the price.
In the Name of Stability
The Biden administration is stealthily striving for its destination in Vienna, while government leaders in Israel are hypocritically attacking the previous government.
All confidential discussions behind closed doors; in Washington, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Paris, and Berlin, were unsuccessful. It is doubtful whether security and state leaders managed to advance even an iota in the new nuclear deal. Didn't all the forerunners of democracy promise, while flashing their military ranks and ribbons, that they know how to convince the Americans not to return to the nuclear deal with Iran?
Now it has happened and the difference between 2015 and 2022 is clearly visible. Then there was high tension in the air. Israel and its allies in the USA raised an outcry, protested, and demonstrated. Senators and members of Congress joined the battle and refused to approve the agreement in Congress. President Obama had to accept the fact that the Senate did not have a large enough majority to annul the deal he had reached. Today, reaching an agreement has caused all those involved to yawn incessantly. Who cares? This is the malignant apathy of a defeatist spirit, of appeasement towards Iran and other enemies. The difference culminates in one man, Netanyahu. His ousting from the leadership position enabled Biden's US administration and its allies in Israel to quietly crawl to their destination in Vienna, despite the fact that government leaders in Israel have been attacking Netanyahu for an entire year. The truth must be told, objections by Gantz, Bennett, and Lapid were tongue-in-cheek, perhaps because they play some role in the US's bargaining process with Iran. Bennett tried to give the actions attributed to Israel by the world an impression of an operational struggle against the Iranian nukes. Truth is that these were a series of alleged military operations against the Revolutionary Guards, and not against the Iranian nuclear project.
In the battle against Iran's nuclearization, the confrontation between senior security officials, including major generals and chiefs of staff, and the political echelon led by Netanyahu, has reached its peak. Bibi-phobia has developed to dimensions of mass psychosis. Nationalist, Zionist, security, and economic considerations have been sacrificed, all to prevent Netanyahu from returning to the helm of power. The most current example, against the backdrop of the inflationary crisis, is that it was possible to form a stable government for another three years and prevent the upcoming elections, but Benny Gantz, Minister of Defense who cares so much about governmental stability and speaks arrogantly about the necessary legislation – could have ensured this stability, but did not.
Bibi-phobia, a pathological hatred for Netanyahu, is not a profound mystery that cannot be delved into but is an outcome. It is a useful tool in the hands of top security officials to take control of the political party system. Just recently Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi brushed off Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz when the latter claimed that the latest operation in Gaza was carried out without the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet's involvement. The late Uri Avneri already warned in the 1950s of the danger of a security-military takeover of the political system. This group holds immense power – the police, the GSS, and the armed forces. They have the Ministry of Defense in their hands, significant influence over grant money (the US and German aid) and a system that controls new immigrants, the radio and the PR system, and their own trustees in every newspaper in the country." Avneri wrote in "Ha'Olam Hazeh" in May 1957: "What is this if not an early version of an abysmal state, which has since been fortified by recruiting the judicial system into the campaign."
But in order to avoid any doubt, he stated that "a military coup is not possible in Israel, nor a putsch ... therefore a very serious attempt will be made to take over Mapai from the inside."
Mapai is the entire political party system, which IDF generals gradually took over until they established the Blue and White Chiefs-of-Staff party. The conquest of the political system was made possible only because of the complete void of leadership surrounding Netanyahu. For a long time Netanyahu has been alone in the political arena in Israel, with a vast wasteland of leadership around him; void of vision and ideal. The chiefs of staff, generals, and military leaders are the replacement for leadership, and since 2009 IDF leaders, who have all turned to politics, are rejecting the principle of the army's subordination to the government, as quoted by Moshe Ifergan in a 2018 article. It is absurd to now realize that the security chiefs favored Ehud Olmert as a political leader, but the public rebuffed him.
Since the top security officials' rejection of the directives of the political echelon regarding Iran, from the Harpaz-Ashkenazi affair, Yair Golan's "Process Speech," when he was the deputy chief of staff in 2016, the IDF leaders' incessant criticism over the political echelon, and mainly Netanyahu, to the establishment of the Blue and White chiefs of staff party, we have a generals' revolt that has only become more and more extreme, involving everything except the physical use of weapons. Only with this intense tailwind could the justice system and the police put their resources to use, for the purpose of having Netanyahu stand trial.
For those who are looking for reasons why the security leadership went Leftwards, the answer is that it was densely tangled in the failures of the Left's ideology and policies. The failure of the Left's policy during the Oslo Accords and onwards turned into a chain of failures for the IDF. The "Alliance of the Failures" was created, while organizations, such as "Betzlem" and "Breaking the Silence," continue to prove to the IDF that they are superior and have the ability to degrade senior officers and repeatedly entangle the IDF in the international media and in legal courts. See the Elor Azaria case and the environmental damages in the Gaza wars.
Bibi-phobia was discovered to be the most effective tool for securing the Left-security-judicial alliance. It reached irrational levels of imposing a personal boycott on Netanyahu and creating unrestrained engines of incitement against the Likud. The IDF generals have generated an aura of leadership-moral superiority over the politicians, many of whom work to discredit and diminish their status. But their political void and moral weakness are being exposed these days, considering the failures of the Iranian deal and the economic policy, recruitment in favor of an anti-Zionist policy that prioritizes the expansion of Arab settlements in the Galilee and the Negev, and the curbing of the Jewish population there. Spineless people, who are acting like "rubber stamps," are gaining power under the so-called title of "statehood."
Eisenkot, as Chief of Staff in January 2016, did not bring any news of a military vision, but rather spoke of the IDF as the defender of democracy: " Specifically in complicated and sensitive security circumstances, the role of the security system is to maintain Israel as a democratic state, an island of stability, with military and moral strength." The Left applauded the ideological stabilization of the army. Eisenkot later spoke about public representatives in the Knesset, as if they were promoting a "gang ethos." Bugi Ya'alon used the same phrase. They are not used to using the word "statehood." Interestingly enough, although it is possible to repeatedly fool the public by using IDF generals, since the 2019 electoral record, the public has turned its back on the Chiefs of Staff party, which has now changed its name to the "National Camp".
So Who, Just Before the End
One analyst claims that the publication of Netanyahu's book was timed due to a fear that he will not win. It is more likely to assume that he did not realize that the government would fall so quickly.
"My Story," the book Bibi wrote about himself, is not the only one in the making. Every few years a new wave of Netanyahu books shows up. I know of at least one other book that is currently being written. Joshua Cohen, in his book "The Netanyahus," is probably the one who started the current wave. This book, beyond its levels of defamation against members of the Netanyahu family and nihilistic attitude against Judaism, is also quite disappointing on the simple level of reading a story. The Netanyahus acted wisely and did not touch the book even with a ten-yard stick.
Benjamin Netanyahu's personal book probably presents himself and Zionism in a slightly more positive light. A debate is developing around the significance of the date of the book's release, a few weeks after the elections. One interpretation claims that it expresses a fear that he will not win. It is more reasonable to assume that when Bibi started writing the book and the contracts were signed, he did not realize that the government would fall so quickly. It is hard to believe today, but for a certain period of time, there was a feeling that after the budget – this strange machine would push along until the end of its term. He might also have thought that in the meantime he would retire from politics. Some of his opponents in Likud also thought so. On the other hand, his fast pace of writing, only about nine months, is not of someone who is "about to quit the race."
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
