Published in St. Louis Post-Dispatch 6-9-2005

Last month Washington University hosted an academic conference entitled "Israel: The Next Decade," sponsored by The Center for New Institutional Social Sciences, the Wiedenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy, and the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzilya, Israel.

Media coverage of Israel invariably centers on the Arab-Israeli Conflict and Prime Minister Sharon's current plan to evacuate Gaza.  The Wash U. conference highlighted Israeli problems surprisingly germane to Americans: education lagging international standards, the assimilation of a million new immigrants since 1990, sluggish economic growth, burdensome taxation and entitlements, dysfunctional electoral and bureaucratic structures.  Israel is a young nation experiencing many of the same problems we have in the US, albeit an environment and history dissimilar to our own.

Israel was founded against the backdrop of the 1948 War of Independence.  There was little time to debate political structures--they were fighting for their lives--one-percent of the Jewish nation was killed.  The founding fathers of Israel needed immediate centralized control over the country.  Based on the British parliamentary system, Israel has a parliamentary democracy: a vote for a political party establishes proportional representation in the legislature (Knesset).  The two main parties, Labor and Likud, bargain either with each other, or with the eleven smaller parties, to cobble together a coalition that can pass legislation.

The average life of an Israeli government is 22 months.  The Knesset at loggerheads can result in a vote of no-confidence, requiring an election and reshuffling of alliances until a new government is formed.  This system creates strange bedfellows: the leading party, only a plurality, must ally with another party in order to govern.  Imagine the confusion if a Republican US President were required to appoint Democratic congressmen to key posts in a power-sharing deal--talk about gridlock.

Collectivism (i.e. socialism) has its attraction, especially in a small country habitually under siege.  Theoretically, the beneficent elected leaders design and implement programs which benefit the country as a whole.  Problems crop up when the various ministries engaged to carry out policies become Byzantine bureaucracies led by political rivals to the Prime Minister, from another party or his own.

There are 21 Ministries in Israel, responsible for everything from tourism to counter-terrorism.  For example, a directive to build a highway through a rural area may require the imprimatur of the Ministries of Finance, Transport, Labor, Agriculture and Rural Development, Environment, National Infrastructures, and (of course) Defense, allowing each the ability to delay the project.  At the Wash U. conference Uriel Reichman, the President of the Interdisciplinary Center and founder of the Shinui (secular) political party, stated that 70 percent of government decisions are not implemented due to Ministerial musings.  Imagine if 70 percent of the laws passed by the US Congress were never implemented...actually, to conservatives that doesn't sound half bad.

The politics of left and right are as potent in Israel as they are in the US, perhaps more so.  Former Prime Minister (1996-1999) Benjamin Netanyahu is probably the most well-known conservative, other than Prime Minister Sharon.  Currently serving as Finance Minister, Netanyahu is a proponent for lower taxes, spending cuts, investments in infrastructure and high-tech, and privatization of state-owned industry.  He has written several books on terrorism, presenting a scholarly and convincing argument against appeasement.  Surprisingly, Netanyahu voted for Sharon's disengagement plan.  Belatedly he rescinded his support, citing ongoing attacks and Hamas pronouncements that Israel is retreating from Gaza because of their relentless terror campaign.  After recent Palestinian elections, Hamas is poised to take over Gaza--a terrorist victory celebration will inspire more terrorism.

Growing up on the American fruited plain, one can scarcely comprehend life in Israel, in which even the current "cease fire" includes dozens of missiles and mortars falling on Jewish fields and greenhouses.  How precarious it must be to implement education programs for new immigrants, knowing that somewhere close by a bomb ticks.

Donald Meissner

Editor, Grateful Right