Israel's political stink bomb
Op-ed: Mofaz, like Barak before him, emptied Israeli politics of any meaning except survival
This morning I threw my dog a stick, and it returned with Shaul Mofaz, who asked to join us. In the afternoon I took my son to the park, and Shaul was doing the Mofaz on some bench and asked to come along. At this moment it's quite clear to me that as I start to write this piece, Mofaz will join in. I would ask you to wait for him, but I know – just like Mofaz knows – that nobody out there is waiting.
Mofaz, the man who ran (and still does) on the ticket of "I promise to thoroughly bore you," delivered Tuesday on his great promise to address our socioeconomic problems: He made sure that at least one person, himself, won't become unemployed soon, or worse yet, would join Israel's middle class.
Just like Ehud Barak before him, Mofaz performed a selfish, stinky scheme that allowed him to detach himself once and for all from this pesky notion of "elected public servant" and turn himself into a Netanyahu servant. And so, finally we saw the establishment of a unity government that will represent everyone, with the possible exception of that insignificant minority, you know, I'm forgetting their name –oh, yes. Israel's citizens; these pests.
Who needs us anyway? In the view of the current Israeli political establishment, we are merely a needless mob that should garner no interest. It's better to just ignore us.
The new Israeli politics
Shaul Mofaz joined the new Israeli politics Tuesday: The one that would sell its mother, his mother, my mother and your mother – and then the father, the kids and the pets if there are any – for another 30 minutes in their post. It's all about being there for the sake of being there.
This is politics that has no aim, objective or meaning except for pure survival. Mofaz, just like Barak before him, gave up the few things that every politician possesses until proven otherwise – personal integrity, loyalty to some values, and a certain public mandate – and proved otherwise. Mofaz just has to be there, and everything else can just go to hell.
These kinds of schemes turn Israeli politics into something that Israelis try not to step on by mistake. Because of these kinds of ploys, we feel that we lost our politicians, that they lost us, and that all of us lost the chance for the kind of politics that has any substantive, practical, or principled meaning; the kind of politics that can make a difference.
But hey, we got a unity government! Government chairs for everyone! All the rest can just stay in place, or better yet, shove it.
