A Long Night at the Podium

What was intended to be a festive ceremony, with family and closest friends invited to observe the solemn swearing in of Israel's new super-sized government (the largest and most costly in Israel's history), ended up being so drawn out that most of the country was already in bed by the time the oaths were taken. You couldn't help but feel bad for newly appointed Minister Gilad Erdan's two grandmothers who had schlepped from Tel Aviv in order to watch from the Knesset gallery as their grandson finally strode to the podium, sometime just before midnight. The grandmothers were joined in those special seats by such Jewish luminaries as Sheldon Adelson, Ron Lauder, Mort Zuckerman and Arnon Milchen, for whom Bibi Netanyahu's re-ascent to the throne was nothing short of a personal mission. Their guy won the crown; but now let's see how long he can rule the kingdom.

Not an easy task with 30 ministers and nine deputy ministers; six ministers responsible for security and foreign relations alone and another three ministers without portfolio responsible for, as new opposition leader Tzipi Livni said last night, nothing at all.  Last-minute details are still being worked out:  Will Lieberman allow Silvan Shalom to join the security kitchen cabinet?  Will Bibi's additional title of economic czar stave off the torrent of harsh criticism over his choice of Finance Minister, his friend (and Sarah Netanyahu's confidant) MK Yuval Steinitz, a former philosophy professor with no financial or ministerial experience?  All told, it seems pretty clear that this unprecedented level of cabinet excess and built-in competition can only end badly for the man who stopped at nothing to glue it together.

Beyond the inherent political, ideological and philosophical fissures waiting to crack wide open is the problem of the public trust.  With such serious diplomatic, security and economic threats looming, it is surprising that a mere 54% of Israelis, according to a Ha'aretz-Dialog poll published today, are dissatisfied with this new patchwork government.  But what is downright astonishing is that in this environment, with factories closing down and unemployment rising, the revelation that these 39 new ministers and deputy ministers will cost the people some 262 million shekels per year, and that these same 39 ministers and deputy ministers will receive 70% of their high-end salaries for the rest of their lives (!), Israelis have not taken to the streets in protest. The audacity of it all, the personal game of aggrandizement being played out at the public's expense, is just too much to bear.  So before this growing distrust in government and bitter disappointment in the conduct of Israel's political leaders turns to total apathy, Tzipi Livni needs to garner all of her skill and passion to show the people that a far better alternative, one that is both potent and principled, is yet possible.