'Israel is corrupt and unethical'
Pr. Avishay Braverman President of Ben-Gurion University says Israel's electoral system needs changing into a presidential form of governance
“The Jewish state was founded on the principle ‘pursue justice, justice’ yet turned into an unjust, unethical, violent and corrupt state. We need to ‘become newly religious’ in this sense, which requires a quality and responsible government. I am as old as the state and I see the deterioration, the increase in corruption and violence,” he told Ynet.
“Respect reserved to the wealthy and people in authority nowadays. Scientists and culture lovers are no longer respected, there is a kind of deterioration,” Pr. Braverman said.
Presidential revolution
Braverman believes that the Israeli political system is one of the worst in the world. “We need a presidential form of government. Israel’s tremendous strength need be translated into quality government,” he said.
A presidential system, so he argues, will allow the appointment of quality ministers by a president and will end the destabilizing and paralyzing ministerial reshuffles every two years.
“A president needs to appoint ministers who are faithful to him, and in parallel a governor or a central figure needs to be appointed to rule each region. The whole electoral system needs to be changed. It is unacceptable that a nation with so much human wealth and quality fails to achieve higher growth. In this decade we need either to grow or fade. When a nation is threatened to fade away quality youths leave the country,” he added.
Hinting to a possible career in politics, Braverman says that high government posts will eventually pass on to younger people. Despite the hint he insists that his main objective, and dream, is to increase private industrial investment in the Negev --- for the meantime at least.
“The Sharon-Peres generation, a generation that served under Ben-Gurion, has to continue working to secure a division of Israel and retire. The mission after that, for the generation of younger people like me, will be of a different nature --- to reset the pendulum on the human, social, economic and ethical fronts,” he said.
Ben-Gurion University: From crisis to empire
The picture is not as gloomy however. Ben-Gurion University holds a special place in Pr. Braverman’s heart. “I found the love of my life here. In addition to my wife, I have a concubine and that’s Ben-Gurion University,” he said.
When he took over the presidential post at Ben-Gurion in 1990, 5,700 students were enrolled. Today there are some 17,000 enrolled students, despite a two percent decrease in enrollments in comparison to last year.
“We managed to transform a university in crisis into an empire,” Pr. Braverman said proudly.
Students from all over Israel are attracted to Ben-Gurion University each year: Over 40 percent of the total number of students come from the center of the country, 10 percent make the long journey from the Galilee in the north and 45 percent come from the Negev.
A former senior economist at the World Bank, Braverman has no intention of retiring at the end of his tenure at Ben-Gurion University. He will carry on working to improve the Negev’s economy.
“My main concern is to continue bringing industries,” he said, adding that boosting the economy in the Negev hinges on the government’s willingness to lure investors with benefits and encourage Israeli youths to move there.
“On Ben-Gurion Day 2007 we will declare an international campaign --- I want to collect an additional USD 250 million for the industrial park most parts of which will be erected within three years,” he said.
On Sunday Braverman received a ‘beloved resident’ certificate from Beer Sheva Municipality which he didn’t spare his criticism.
“The city needs to keep a level of cleanliness and aesthetics. I can’t stand it when it’s not clean. Let the municipality recruit someone to deal with cleaning. It doesn’t make sense that the capital of the Negev, which has a budget for cleaning, looks like this. Cleanliness is not a budgetary matter it is a responsibility. Even poor people can live aesthetically,” he said.
And no, he has no plans to run in the mayoral elections for Beer Sheva Municipality.
