Jerusalem ReportOnline coverage of Israel, The Middle East and The Jewish World

Table of Contents
Click for Contents

Click here to subscribe to The Jerusalem Report



Navigation bar

P.O. Box 1805,Jerusalem 91017
Tel. 972-2-531-5440,
Fax: 972-2-537-9489
Advertising Fax:
972-2-531-5425,
Email Editorial: [email protected]
Subscriptions: [email protected]
Web site: http://www.jrep.com








Hirsh Goodman: �Shush, There�s a War Going On�
Hirsh Goodman


I am not usually one who supports those who go on strike, as most of the public sector did mid-October. This time I am, not because I understand if they are being paid enough or if their grievances are real, but because I have had enough of answering every question in this country with "Shush, there is a war going on, not now."

With two years of war behind us and probably another 10 ahead, just too many things are being slipped under the carpet because there is a war going on. In a brilliant move that should be taught in Politics 101, the prime minister pulled the Broadcasting Authority from Labor�s control, creating an unhealthy situation in a democracy where the prime minister controls all state media -- but "shush, there�s a war going on." Sharon then went on to make Efi Eitam the infrastructure minister, knowing that the National Religious Party was so keen to have a ministry that Eitam would agree to take the portfolio without the Israel Lands Authority which, naturally, Sharon kept for himself. Now the prime minister controls all the land in the country as well -- but "shush, there�s a war going on." Our health minister, it is discovered, spends Passover and Succot with his entire family at luxury hotels at the taxpayer�s expense, and the religious affairs minister lays out another 20,000 shekels in taxpayer�s money for four nights at the Tel Aviv Hilton -- but "shush, not now," national unity is more important than these little technicalities, there�s a war going on."

So, because there is a war going on we can have a prime minister who is setting himself up with near-dictatorial powers. He has a cabinet so large that it has to be broken down into sub-groups: the inner cabinet, the security cabinet, the kitchen cabinet, the broader cabinet, the narrow cabinet, the large cabinet and the full cabinet are but a few of those known. The purpose of this is: (a) to provide as many jobs and perks as possible; (b) to make as many people as grateful as possible; (c) to ensure that no one has too much power; (d) to make everyone think they have power; (e) to create general confusion over executive powers so that there will always be someone else to blame when things do not get done and, primarily, to divide and rule. The net result: executive paralysis, bureaucratic mayhem, turf wars and destructive inter-cabinet rivalries. But, "shush, come on now, you know there�s a war going on."

And consider. Each of the ministers and deputy ministers, even those without portfolio, has cars and drivers, and aides and secretaries and spokespeople, and directors and assistant directors and offices in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and costs millions and millions in wasted resources -- but "shush, we need a broad-based coalition, national unity, a multi-faceted government representing the mainstream of Israel. Gosh, don�t you understand there�s a war going on?"

And, almost without anyone really noticing, Israel has reconquered the West Bank, and soon will have done the same to Gaza, the reoccupation being overseen by Labor Defense Minister Fuad Ben-Eliezer, who was supposed to be dedicated to exactly the opposite policy, but who did so at Sharon�s behest because, well, there�s a war going on. Who would have believed that Shimon Peres would remain in a government that retook the territories and so articulately explain to the world Israel�s encirclement of Palestinian cities, imposition of curfews, destruction of terrorists� family homes, imposition of collective punishment on huge Palestinian populations and the killing of numerous innocents in Gaza while trying to assassinate Hamas leaders? But then, of course, Peres isn�t in it for the Volvo, or the power or any of the other benefits that come with being foreign minister. He is there for one reason only: there is a war going on and that gives Sharon carte blanche to do what he likes.

Yes, there is a war going on. But one day it will end and who knows what we will find: A prime minister who has dictatorial powers? A cabinet structure like the Italian navy with three ships and 11 admirals, and a bureaucracy to match? A Labor party that says nothing when tens of thousands of Palestinians are kept under curfew in Hebron so that several hundred Jews can celebrate Simhat Torah in the Casbah?

There�s a war going on and there will be an Israel after the war, but in the meantime the rot and the dangers to democracy are ever so insidiously becoming the system. We close our eyes to the corruption surrounding the whole foreign-worker outrage and the hand-shakes-hand relationship politicians have with those making millions out of it; we close our eyes to criminal elements using brute force to get themselves elected to public office; we close our eyes to budget outrages that give Knesset members raises while disadvantaged children are thrown out of hostels and the abuses of power that are omnipresent in this government yet tolerated because there is a war going on.

It is possible to fight a war and be critical of abuses, even if that means supporting a dubiously justified strike every now and then. Doing otherwise would be letting the enemy win.

November 4, 2002

Previous    Next

Columnists




Write Us © The Jerusalem Report 1999-2004 Subscribe Now