1. Netanyahu with typical arrogance declared after the last
meeting with President Obama that he is the Prime Minster of the Jewish People!
How? Who elected him? Who empowered him? The way Primaries work in Israel create
Pyramid Structures which give the public the illusion of a democratic process
while in fact they subvert true democracy. When Netanyahu made that declaration
his Party, Likud had only 18 out of 120 MKs in the Knesset (Yesh Atid Party had
19 MKs !) He was elected Likud Leader by less than 50,000 votes of fee
paying members in the Likud Primaries. Later on in the last General elections
Likud secured as a Party some half-million votes out of a total of 3.8 million
voters, itself out of an electorate of 5.7m. Does that pyramid qualify
Netanyahu, or indeed any other successor, to be the Prime Minister of the
Jewish People let alone allowing him to exercise presidential powers
sidestepping the Knesset?
2. After the last elections Netanyahu formed a Coalition
supported by 68 MKs out of the total of 120 MKs. A coalition is a contract for
a government program between a number of parties, in this case 5 Parties.
But Netanyahu governed and behaved like a dictator ignoring these 5 Parties
whose members and ideologies are far apart. That reflects the
dysfunctional democracy in Israel.
All the 120 MKs, Coalition and Opposition alike were content. Why?! They were
happy with salaries higher than their counterparts in Western Democracies. Each
MK is equipped with an air conditioned office suite with private washroom in
the Knesset building complete with a political assistant, a secretary and a
private chauffeured limousine. Definitely 5 Star conditions, status and
accommodation!, the envy of any MP in the UK. Can you imagine any fool
wanting to interrupt such privileged conditions until he secures the assured
pension thereafter!? So they acquiesce resting to enjoy everyday of
hopefully a "Long Parliament with nobody dare telling them for
God's sake go!"
3. Netanyahu on every occasion asserted that his government
would last all the 4 years term. It sounded plausible because by then he could
see Obama and Abu Mazen off and emerge triumphant addressing a Republican
President and Senate. So Israeli politics went into a slumber. Yesh Atid
Finance Minister Lapid convinced himself that by the end of 4 years he could
sort out the country's finances as the Gas revenues from the Mediterranean
would start to fill the coffers. Justice Minister Tsipi Livni thought by the
end of 4 years she might agree with Abu Mazen a peace plan. The Opposition
Parties were warring inside their ranks and had no time to prepare programs or
plans to challenge and replace the Government. They all thought they had plenty
of time for the next general elections. In Israel the citizens vote for a
Party. Therefore an MK is not accountable directly to the voters So Governments
and Prime Ministers can only be weakened not by the pressure of the Opposition
but from within their own Party.
4. Oppositions in Israel are impotent. Amongst other
reasons they never prepare themselves to be the alternative governments because
they rely on the absurd period of 3 months to prepare between dissolution and
reconvening of the Knesset. In the UK this period is hardly 3 weeks!
So the Parties hold Primaries which are the most corrupt and corrupting of the
electoral systems there. In the New Speak world of Israel they
call them Democracy! The Parties waste the 3 month hurling invectives at each
other whilst throwing out every possible dirty linen in public; and the Media
eggs them on with daily polls and theoretical constructs and deconstructs of
possible outcomes of the Knessets' results and possible coalitions until the
electorate, or some 40 per cent of them, get so disillusioned, they give up on
the idea of voting altogether leaving the rest confused not knowing Left from
Right. In the end Tel Aviv Cafes' regulars allied with the gated wealth
in its suburbs bring new groups and parties that are here today gone tomorrow.
History and ideologies are thrown to the wind. So the last Elections of 2013 produced
only 19 MKs for Likud (Jabotinsky/Begin) and 15 for Labour (Weitzman/Ben
Gurion)!!
5. Netanyahu, a super tactician understood all that well and
exploited Israel's
dysfunctional political system to the full using demagoguery and rhetoric. And
after years at the helm he started to view with derision and contempt other
leaders in Israel
and often for good measure even those abroad. With the slogans of the dangers
of Iran,
Hamas, Hezbollah he can always rely on his speciality of raising fear to
bolster his popularity. And who dares question or even suggest that his
policies themselves are actually inviting and perpetuating these dangers while
converting the Arabs inside Israel
into fifth column and the Arabs outside into potential suicide bombers;
Shahids, fuelling hostility and anti-Semitisms abroad. But away from the
suffering peripheries and the porous borders, Israelis in the State of Tel-Aviv
feel secure and forget that Jews in Israel are a tiny minority in a sea
of 350 million Arabs all, after years of frustration wish them ill. Size does
matter! Netanyahu supported by Republican Senators and some wealthy American
Jews felt invincible. "Why man, he doth bestride the narrow world like
a Colossus, and we petty men walk under his huge legs and peep about to find
ourselves dishonourable graves" And sadly some of our best
Jewish lads and many young Palestinians do end in those graves in a continuous
tragedy of useless violent confrontations and wars.
6. And the Jordan
flows on to the Dead Sea and all is quite on
the Al-Sissi Egyptian Border. Suddenly all fell apart when Netanyahu's
co-habiting partner Lieberman, Leader of Yisrael Beytenu Party dissolved their
merged Partnership of Likud-Beytenu. Netanyahu lost his composure and nerve and
any reason or rationale left in him were thrown to the wind. He lashed
out against all, right and left, in Israel
and abroad: Samson-like against all: Obama, Europe,
Abu Mazen, his ministers, his coalition partners. Then he was brutally reminded
of Hamas and Gaza that he himself had left alone to build their missiles and
dig their tunnels undisturbed during his premiership and he woke up to wage a
war that was overdue while he was fighting the world. Apart from few MKs
on the Left and the Arab MKs who were predicted to raise legitimate voices of
protest and dissent he calculated that other Jewish Parties would not dare
raise theirs' at a time of war when national unity and the endangered existence
of Israel are at stake. This has been the order of the day. But lo and behold!
some did dissent, not from the Opposition but from his own Party and Coalition
and even from within his Defence and Security Inner Cabinet. Panicked! What
does Netanyahu do? He did not pursue the Gaza War to a positive conclusion
while appealing to the Gazans over the heads of Hamas. Such course could have
opened the door for a permanent solution to the continued pressure cooker of
the 1.8 million in Gaza while helped
miraculously by Al-Sissi in Egypt.
Instead, Netanyahu turns on his own Coalition Partners to save his worn out
premiership that was leading Israel
nowhere. And he misused every rule and convention riding rough shod on
the Coalition, the Knesset and all its members.
7. In terse letters he dismissed Finance Minister Lapid,
the leader of 19 MKs and Justice Minister Tsipi Livni of another 6 MKs.
Remember he himself had only 18 MKs! He dared and gambled on all the bank and
amazingly against all the odds he came up on top. Why? Simply
because the leaders of all the Parties were taken by surprise unprepared for a
considerate response having been lulled by Netanyahu to think that the
Coalition would serve the full 4 years. With all the Mks, Coalition and
Opposition having settled on a four years uninterrupted term they were stunned
and caught unprepared with no answer or counterattack.
8. Netanyahu dismissed Lapid and Livni personally as
ministers. They could have themselves tabled a no confidence motion in
Netanyahu and no doubt would have been joined by the Opposition Parties
prompting the President to ask the leader of the Opposition heading the
No-Confidence vote to form a government without plunging the country into
premature and unnecessary general elections. All Lapid's ministers and Livni's
ministers could have stayed to continue with their programs as part of an
alternative government or at least as part of a care-taking government during
the interim election's period. They should have dared Netanyahu to sack each
one of them separately. Instead, they stupidly and meekly, all of them,
tendered their resignations to Netanyahu. And once Elections were declared he
was left personally holding all the ministries free to appoint and groom new
MKs from Likud. And so for 3 months he could also govern virtually as a
dictator regaling himself alone with the full political stage and media
coverage of the Prime Minister ready for re-election.
9. That left the leaders of the Parties running all over the
place. No MK wanted the elections. And certainly it was not in the national
interest with the country facing a hostile Middle East and militant Arab
populations in Gaza and the West Bank. The sudden Elections was caused because
neither the Opposition nor Yesh Atid and Hatenua used or even attempted to
exercise their constitutional right to offer an alternative government. They
could have insisted with a willing Opposition to join in a vote of
no-confidence in the Knesset as the basic laws afford them. Instead they all
let Netanyahu outmanoeuvre them. "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our
stars but in ourselves that we are underlings!"
10. And so we start to witness a tragic farce on our TVs
screened to us and to friend and foe alike. This bizarre politics is at the
heart of the problems facing the people of Israel inside and damaging its image
abroad. Recent years exposed the fault lines of our dysfunctional
democracy and its dangers, where our politicians are allied to
wealth, monopolies and power groups disregarding and discarding the suffering
citizens exposing the fact simply that Israel is not governed by its people
for its people. And when you add to this the special demographic
composition of our population you realise the process of our internal
disintegration and the existential dangers that we are being dragged towards.
11. Prof Trachtenberg studying the socio-economic picture of
Israel following the famous clamour for Social Justice in Rothschild Boulevard in
Tel Aviv three years ago concluded that the country is divided into seven
sectors. Now we are facing an even wider and bigger division politically.
Therefore: How can we expect future social and political cohesion? How
can we expect the future Government to be more stable and the future Knesset
more effective? How can we restore a proper balance between our three arms of
the state? How can we link the peripheries with the centre? How can we
integrate our Arab Minorities into our national institutions? How can we avoid
the spilling of the violence from across the borders into our streets and
towns? Sadly we have become so much inward orientated that we seem to be living
in a Ghetto of our own creation. And so instead of minding the raging volcano
over us in Pompey we are fiddling with politics in burning Rome!
12. We need to understand that we can not draw close together
Trachtenberg’s seven sectors by decree. We cannot create a uniform culture or a
cohesive society instantly. Such a process needs few generations to transform
changes in attitudes and ways of life. Successive governmental education
programs and billions of words pouring out of pens of mainly European
orientated writers for the last 60 years in Israel drew us no nearer to
become one people. Fear and the shadow of wars unfortunately were the only
tools that bound us together. And cruel unscrupulous politicians use them today
out of self interest or just ignorance, and can we judge which is worse. On the
other hand selecting and creating new state institutions can change and speed
up the process of cohesion and integration. And no better and more
powerful such institution than a new electoral system that can empower all and
each citizen making him/her feel genuinely, visually and practically part of
being in charge of our shared destiny. In this way we would give our Democracy
the chance to reform itself to produce a government by the people for the
people speeding up the pace towards cohesion and solidarity and helping the
integration of Trachtenberg’s seven sectors. So which electoral system?
13. The President's Commission on Government and Governance
chaired by Professor Megidor (of which I was an active member) recommended a
combination of Constituency and Proportional Representation System, (in Hebrew
Ezori/Artzi i.e. Constituency/Party System). Following that recommendation,
Prof Gideon Doron, Prof Zeev Segal and I proposed TR Total Representation
(in Hebrew YESH Yitsug Shalem) to be that System. TR fuses the
First Past The Post (FPTP) and Proportional Representation (PR) combining the
two in one ballot one vote in the ratio of 75/25 i.e. 90
constituency MKs and 30 Party MKs. It is simplicity itself. So how does
it work?
14. Briefly: Israel is to be divided into 90 constituencies.
Only candidates who offer themselves in those 90 constituencies can qualify for
election to the Knesset. Each has to belong to a party that follow his/her name
on the ballot paper. Each constituency elects one candidate as the MK for that
constituency along the lines of the British Majoritarian System of first
past the post (FPTP) Once the 90 Constituency MKs are elected all their votes
are dropped from the count of the total votes cast nationally. The rest of the
votes are then divided proportionally amongst the competing Parties to elect
the 30 Party MKs out of the same pool of candidates that offered themselves in
the 90 Constituencies. Full details of this system are embodied in a Draft Law
Tromit (similar to a White Paper in Westminster) which was tabled in the 18th
Knesset on 21/07/2010 and signed collectively, at my personal insistence after
arduous discussion with each one, by 5 very senior MKs (Shaul Mofaz, Meir
Shetreet, Avi Dichter, Amir Peretz and Eitan Cabel) Hopefully it could be
revived and be implemented in the next Knesset.
15. TR is specifically suited for Israel to take into
consideration the composition of its immigrant segments that need to be
integrated into its old population and its twenty per cent Arab minority.
"TR" Total Representation is a powerful tool that can help in that
direction. It is a modern system that eminent academics and political
practitioners acknowledge its potential to reform political democracy as it is
evolving in our time, not only in Israel but in many other countries in Europe.
But the advantages for Israel are enormous and vital to fight the prevalent
corruption in the political establishment and to repair its dysfunctional
democracy.
16. Many books have been published in Hebrew by Prof Gideon
Doron and his colleagues at the Tel Aviv University and The Political Science
Association. These can be obtained from CECI, The Citizens' Empowerment Centre
in Israel, 40 George Wise St Tel Aviv 61390. Other books were published in
English by Dr Ken Ritchie, the Chief Executive of the Electoral Reform Society
in London and by me and can be obtained from Amazon or downloaded in Kindle.
17. And last on a personal note: I have devoted the
last 15 years of my life, as my friends in Israel know to advance the case of
TR/Yesh. I served Israel in many capacities and put my life on the line for it
in 3 wars. However now at my ripe age when meeting my Creator is just round the
corner I believe TR/Yesh is the best bequest I could have given to my country.
I hope and pray that the new young MKs in the new Knesset will see its merits
and succeed in adopting it after their predecessors in the 3 past Knessets
(16th, 17th and 18th) failed unfortunately to implement it to the cost of the
manifest lack of stability in government and cohesion in society.
Aharon Nathan, Wimbledon, 15th Jan 2015
The following are some of the many advantages of TR for
Israel.
1) As in the UK each of the 90 constituencies
either has an incumbent MK or a chosen rival candidate ready to fight the
following general elections. Therefore candidates are always ready and in
touch. And so is the country if and when a new general election is declared. In
this way huge amounts of money are saved and the time needed between
dissolution and reconvening of the Knesset is drastically reduced.
2) TR (YESH) does not need the
undemocratic Threshold (Achuz Chasima) as the Party MK (30 Seats) needs 3/4
times as many votes as the Constituency MK (90 Seats) Therefore the chances of
small parties manipulating the government are slim.
3) Yesh eliminates the need for
corrupt and undemocratic primaries that are infected by money and graft.
Democracy is exercised directly by the citizens and not through two stage
processes, first primaries and then general elections.
4) Yesh eliminates
Gerrymandering, strife and bad blood internally within Parties (in Hebrew
Reshimot Hissul)
5) Yesh guarantees the direct
link and accountability of the MK to his constituents at all times keeping
him/her well informed and linked to the grass roots.
6) Yesh produces two main big
Parties and ensures that one of them may together with just one medium or small
party form a stable government. Academically produced simulations show such
outcomes. Thus Governments can survive the full term of the Knesset and can
take bold necessary decisions especially with regard to the Peace Process,
without worries of being overthrown.
7) And above all under Yesh, the
watching eyes of the constituents in each constituency could ensure that
corruptions are exposed and nipped in the bud before growing into scandalous
and criminal proportions. And beside the constituents who voted for the MK in
each Constituency there will be his/her opponent from a rival party waiting to
pounce with the first smell of corruption is in the air.
8) In the absence of Primaries
Yesh provides a simple mechanism to elect or replace Party Leaders. Basically,
each leader of each party is elected or re-elected in the middle of the Knesset
term by the candidates of the party in the last election (not by the
party’s MKs, who will naturally not include all the candidates). All these
candidates cast the actual votes each obtained in the preceding general
election. These votes are those of the real supporters of the party in the last
election, and not by the votes of paid members who often are recruited for that
purpose. The selection becomes clean and transparent with no corrupt practices
and outside interferences.
All the above points are dealt
with at length in the form of Q&A in two books I published on Israel:
Chapters 11 and 12 in
"Israel : State or Ghetto" available in Amazon and Kindle.
Chapters 15 and16 in "Hametsiut Machtiva" in Hebrew available from CECI, Tel-Aviv
Chapters 15 and16 in "Hametsiut Machtiva" in Hebrew available from CECI, Tel-Aviv