Between protest and anarchy
Israel is on the march. Everywhere, in every direction. Maybe even to nowhere. Events of the last two weeks may restore the middle class to its former glory. Or they may send us tumbling into anarchy.
The right to demonstrate remains solid and strong. The spectacle of people publicly standing up for their beliefs has garnered widespread support, understandably so. It's not the end of the world if demonstrators block traffic here and there around the country. They should be removed, but not angrily.
The protesters' camp is a mixed bag of people. Some are responsible citizens weighed down by the burden of daily existence, while others are rebels seeking to throw off their burden and foment public unrest. The government must exhibit understanding. The police response thus far has been proportional.
One-third of the Israeli public, mostly from the middle class, carries the weight of the Arabs on the one hand and the ultra-Orthodox on the other. Neither of these groups contributes to our national enterprise, yet both live off the funds of those who do work. Now the middle class has discovered that it is not just charity to these groups that is impoverishing it, but also the tycoons, who take loans from our pension funds and pay them back only in part. Company heads Ilan Ben Dov and Yitzhak Tshuva have been there and done that, but the cash register is still open and other tycoons are sure to follow their lead.
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz is not to blame for the squeeze on the middle class, even if it has been necessary to take to the public square to alert him to the problem's urgency. The Israeli economy is strong, even though a lengthy descent into chaos could undo this achievement. Amid the emotional flurry, there is need for a scapegoat. Someone has to be sacrificed, and the finance minister, whoever he may be, is always close at hand.
Monday night Steinitz promised Channel 2's Yonit Levy that by the beginning of 2012 some relief will be felt on the economic, social, political and partisan fronts. He offered his pledge that the tycoons' stranglehold on the economy would be reduced. He promised to transfer money from their pockets to the national treasury. Will they let him do it? We'll find out.
Steinitz is threatened, first by competing Likud politicians, which is acceptable, but also feels threatened by some members of the business community, who are livid over the Knessets market concentration committee that is intended to restrain tycoons. But until they are restrained, the land will not be silent.
The government must address this issue without getting worked up. It can no longer neglect the middle class or those without means, but must attend to them with a measured, consistent policy, and not in a compulsive manner that betrays fear. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not have to postpone his planned trip to Poland tomorrow. His government's stability is not at stake and woe to him if he cannot rely on his coalition to pass the planned housing reforms in his absence. As a matter of principle, fear of criticism is an evil counselor to any prime minister.
Netanyahu is expected to present his plan for solving the crisis today. That plan is socio-economic in nature but does not lack political components. Let him present his plan. His rivals will oppose it while his own camp defends itself. The street will demonstrate and the police will maintain order. Meanwhile, Netanyahu should fly to Warsaw. There is no better way to project an image of business as usual.
טעינו? נתקן! אם מצאתם טעות בכתבה, נשמח שתשתפו אותנו