Israel’s New Government

Israel’s New Government

The new government was sworn in at a vote on Sunday 13th June 2021 with the 61-strong support from the coalition’s eight parties — Yamina (Rightist), New Hope, Yisrael Beytenu, Blue and White, Yesh Atid, Labor, Meretz (Leftist) and Ra’am (Arab).

The government’s 28 ministers have the authority to enter their offices and immediately begin working.

This is the most cobbled Israeli government ever in the last 73 years, whose primary purpose is to remove Bibi Netanyahu from office with governance of the state being second because its members are comprised from the extreme Right to the extreme Left with Arabs, whose loyalty is for the Muslim Brotherhood, not Israel.

Netanyahu himself has called the assembling of Bennett’s government “the greatest fraud in Israeli history”

Even before the new government has yet to be sworn in, the chief architect of the new coalition, Yair Lapid has already admitted a massive failure, because the new government will be just as bloated as the old one, and no one laments this fact more than he. “I have failed there,” Lapid said bluntly at a recent meeting. “I can’t defend it. I wanted a small government with a small number of ministers. This is not a good thing.”

The sheer size and swell of the new unity government — 28 cabinet ministers and six deputy ministers — will make it the third-largest in Israel’s history. Since 2016, Lapid excoriated Bibi for exactly the massive size of government that he will be leading soon.

As Israel’s governments have grown steadily in size for years, they have become less efficient and more dysfunctional. As the cabinets grew, the number of working parliamentarians left to do the Knesset’s daily work shrivelled, rendering Israel’s parliament one of the least effective bodies in the public service.

It is a proven fact that governments with a large number of ministries function far worse than governments with only a few. The more bloated a government, the more expensive and prone to errors it becomes.

For years, Israeli leaders started creating ministries for political expediency rather than policy efficiency so that they can get members of the Knesset join them to keep their government in power. Since each new minister demands that a ministry be established to justify his/her appointment, more and more aimless, needless and costlier ones were created, thus increasing the bureaucracy and reducing efficiency.  

Although Lapid knows all the above - as he has spoken about the dangers of overly large cabinets and overworked MKs often and with passion - he is now discovering to his annoyance and puzzlement, that he has been confusing the cause and the effect; because there are researches that actually prove the following paradox: Smaller parliaments require larger governments.

When comparing Israel’s population (9 million) with similar ones such as Austria (9 million) Switzerland (8.5 million) shows that it has one of the smallest parliaments in the democratic world of (120) seats compared with Austria (244) and Switzerland (246). Therefore, Israel should have at least 200 seats to function efficiently.

Because of such a small number of parliamentarians, Israeli members of the Knesset must do the impossible while serving in four or more committees simultaneously. It is physically and mentally unrealistic, to keep track of multiple issues and cast numerous votes in a parliamentary workday, on bills and regulatory decisions they scarcely have time to absorb as well as meet with constituents.

The last 73 years have proven repeatedly that Israel’s parliament is too small thus making each MK very powerful; its cabinets are too large and unwieldy, thus making its public service too reliant on politically undesirable pressure groups.

Another lesson from history is: “When there is a Will; There is a Way”

There is a very obvious solution to all the above intricacies: The decision by the Israeli politicians to increase the Knesset membership to at least 200 or even more, thus reducing the workload of parliamentarians by half, while doubling efficiency.

Before such a cosmic event happens, how long will the new government – who’s publicly declared sole purpose has been, to remove one of the most talented and successful Prime Ministers in Israel’s history – be able to function, considering how divergent the points of view of the eight parties holding it together with cello-tape?

Personally, I dare to forecast two to six months; if not less. If and when this will happen, Israel will have to go for another election and most probably, Bibi will again be elected PM with a good majority.