Bibi-Bashing
Outgoing finance minister Netanyahu is wrongfully blamed for everything
Bibi-bashing can be fun at times. Nevertheless, it seems that some politicians and commentators are trying to turn it into an Olympic sport.
Yes, Netanyahu's resignation came too late - too late for the "Yesha" campaign, too late to stop the disengagement plan, too late to appease his left wing opposition and too late to channel it into major political gain within the Likud party.
I can go on and on counting Netanyahu's many past mistakes and pet those who feel hurt by his policies. I am also sure that the more I will do so - the more positive responses I would get in return. However, as tempting as it may be, I will refrain from doing so.
It is so easy to blame it on “the Bibi". The occasional tourist who would open an Israeli newspaper would most likely assume that every major sickness in Israel's society had emerged from that "cold hearted, opportunistic and self centered" Netanyahu.
Putting an end to orgy of folly
High unemployment? Blame it on the Bibi. Social injustice? Blame it on the Bibi. Collapsing health system? Blame it on the Bibi. Staggering poverty? Blame it on the Bibi. Crumbling welfare system? Blame it on the Bibi.
I would suggest that instead of pointing the finger at "Bibi", we should start pointing it at ourselves and at politicians who run from taking responsibility for their actions. Decades of bipartisan and corrupted misappropriation of public funds have managed in many aspects, to turn Israel into a bankrupted third world country.
No state is viable if a third of its budget is dedicated for "transfer payments" – leaving only a fraction of the budget for actual growth. No good society is feasible if it is more "profitable" to avoid work, live of welfare and still get more money and benefits than a working Israeli does. No government can exist if a labor union leader (and a wannabe politician) can blackmail the authorities and shut down Israel's electricity, air and seaports, banking system and schools at his discretion.
Someone had to put an end to this orgy of folly and such an end came with Netanyahu's policies.
Until two and a half years ago, Israel was no longer the land of milk and honey – but the land where it was the norm to milk the honey out of the land. Accordingly, it is almost impossible for an honest tax paying Israeli to get much needed allowances from the state (disability, unemployment, medial and other financial support), without first passing in a via-dolorosa, shown to him by the authorities, that in order to prove that he is not a fraud (unlike many others), and that he deserves the support he paid for all of his life.
A job well done
I know this horrid Via Dolorosa all too well. I will never forget how my late father spent his last hour in his dieing bed. He had spent it not with his family, but with a social security official - using whatever strength he had left to prove to her that he is indeed incapacitated due to a terminal case of cancer and that he needs the disability allowance the state was supposed to give him. My father did not live to see the approval of his allowance request; the last letter for him to sign came about a month following his death.
I do not blame Netanyahu's allowance cuts policy or the social security's actions for my family's misfortune and I urge many of Netanyahu's critics to do the same in their own cases.
Netanyahu's actions were the result and not the cause for such happenings. This is the only result Israelis can expect get after so many of them (politicians and regular citizens alike) have been molesting and robbing dedicated public funds for their narrow and corrupted interests.
It does not matter if you are a "Bibi-lover" or a "Bibi-basher", the bottom line is that due to his actions, more money now goes to those who honestly need it. One may argue that this amount is not enough; however we should all ask ourselves how much money and support would the needy get without Netanyahu's actions.
I will leave the cynicism, the political analysis and the “Bibi-Bashing” for other commentators. Instead, I would like to do what is unthinkable for some, and commend our former finance minister for a job well done– in this case he has earned it.
The writer is a media advisor and a former high-ranking official in the Likud PR division.
