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Silvan Shalom
Photo: Avishag Shaar-Yashuv

Defense isn’t everything

Op-ed: Domestic issues as crucial to State of Israel’s survival as our military power

The State of Israel experienced a major event the other week. We were hit by a grave tragedy. Its heavy price still resonates here and we shall have to contend with its implications for many years to come.

 

The Carmel blaze exposed the ongoing neglect of Israel’s domestic affairs. The state of our firefighting services is merely a symptom of a worrying phenomenon that must be addressed. While some raised a hue and cry before about the fire brigades’ deterioration, nobody was there to listen. The issue failed to make headlines in the midst of diplomatic stories and political spins.

 

We must realize that as long as we fail to address the root of the problem we may experience more disasters, which will again prompt us to bow our heads and scream that the writing was on the wall.

 

We must candidly admit that in its 63rd year, the time has come to manage and most of all invest in the State of Israel domestically, and not only on the outside. For generations now, Israeli governments had been elected on the basis of the foreign and defense policies they present. Come election time, we vote for the party that reflects our views on foreign affairs and defense issues. By doing so, we in fact grant a mandate to a government that we expect would fulfill its promises on the foreign affairs and defense front.

 

And so, the prime minister – any prime minister since the state’s inception – has been devoting some 90% of his or her time to foreign affairs and defense issues, and another 10% to political survival.

 

There should be no mistake about it: The engagement with diplomatic and security issues is unavoidable. I know this as I was there, as deputy defense minister, finance minister, and foreign minister. However, the temptation to only deal with these issues is greater than the actual need to do so. In order to face external threats we must make sure to maintain social strength and internal power, here at home.

 

Had we have seen the IDF scoring lower than the average of OECD states in an international test, as was the case in respect to student achievements in math, sciences and reading comprehension, we would see a demand that very same day for a higher defense budget to maintain our advantage. Military superiority guarantees our security, yet education, healthcare, settling the land and minimizing gaps are the elements that would guarantee our very existence.

 

Learn from Ben-Gurion

Settling and developing the Galilee and the Negev is not just a slogan fit for a billboard; rather, it is necessary for our ongoing development and growth as a state and the reinforcement of our regional status.

 

Upon the state’s establishment, our first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, recognized the importance of settling the whole country. He said that only through the cohesive effort of a people imbued with volunteer spirit, and a state mechanism that plans and executes, we’d be able to meet the great mission of making the desert bloom and settle it.

 

He stressed that this effort will determine the State of Israel’s fate and the Jewish people’s standing in the history of mankind. While Ben-Gurion referred to the Negev region when he spoke, the message is applicable to any peripheral area.

 

The Galilee is being developed, and this year we are realizing a dream that had been facing a five-year impasse: Israel’s fifth medical school will be established in the northern town of Safed. We shall also extend the Cross-Israel Highway and extend our railway system to Carmiel and Kiryat Shmona.

 

We also boosted technological equipment in 413 Galilee classrooms, established dozens of settlement points that bring youngsters to both rural and urban communities, and are contributing to development grants and assisting in subsidizing land acquisitions.

 

In 2011 we shall continue to promote many projects in order to realize the vision of bringing another 300,000 residents to the Galilee in the next decade. The state’s continuity hinges on the realization of this vision. Settling and developing the Galilee and Negev is critical to Israel’s future no less than other issues, and it should receive the proper attention as part of the overall fabric that will determine the entire state’s fate.

 

The time has come for an intellectual and policy change; alongside the preoccupation with foreign affairs and defense issues, we must urgently place civil affairs at the top of the public agenda, designate proper resources to them, and invest in them before we face the need for yet another commission of inquiry.

 

Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom chaired this week’s Galilee Conference

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 12.16.10, 11:25
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