Justice Minister Yariv Levin has declared that if the Likud wins the Knesset elections, he will ask to continue in his post so that he can finally implement his judicial reform policy.
What needs reform even more is the size of the government. Admittedly, every party in a government coalition should be entitled to one minister, but regardless of the size of the party whose leader is the prime minister, no party, other than the ruling party, should have more than one minister in the government. The ruling party can have an extra minister in addition to the prime minister.
In delegating ministerial portfolios, the prime minister should forget about jobs for the boys and appoint the most suitable people from those who received the most votes in the primaries held by their respective political parties.
There were 12 ministers in the first government of Israel. The present government started with 30 ministers but now has 24. It’s not the largest government. There were two governments with 36 ministers. Naftali Bennett led Benjamin Netanyahu the other.
For political convenience, new portfolios are created, and some old portfolios are canceled or renamed.
In addition to the prime minister, ministries in the present government include: agriculture and food security; aliyah and integration; communications; construction and housing; culture and sports; defense; economy and industry; education; energy and infrastructure; environmental protection; finance; foreign affairs; health; heritage; innovation, science, and technology; interior; justice; national security; Negev, Galilee, and national resilience; religious services; social equality and the advancement of the status of women; tourism: transportation and road safety; and welfare and social affairs. In addition, numerous national authorities and other national bodies are engaged in formulating and determining policy.
By contrast, portfolios in Israel’s first government included agriculture, rationing and supply; education and culture; foreign affairs; finance, trade and industry; health; immigration and internal affairs; justice; labor and social security; police; religions and war victims; transportation; and welfare.
Issues further arise with the handling of these core ministries, such as education.
To the early governments of Israel, education was of primary importance after defense and diplomacy. In fact, a law on compulsory education was passed during the period of the first government.
But interest in education appears to be waning as teachers are made to work harder for less money and fewer vacation days.
There is almost always friction between official representatives of teachers’ unions and the Education Ministry, with threats and fears that some schools will not open at the beginning of September. This year is no different, but the situation is exacerbated by reports that teaching is no longer a desirable profession, and that there has been a sharp drop in the number of people opting for a career in education.
Education Minister Yoav Kisch has been quoted as saying that he loves the ministry and hopes to continue as minister if Likud wins the Knesset election.
But Kisch is not popular with teachers or their unions. If his wish comes true, more teachers will leave the profession. There is already an acute shortage of teachers. If their ranks continue to be depleted, what hope is there for Israel’s future?
Needed: An Israeli ministry for civil rights
In addition, though top-heavy with ministerial portfolios, some of which could either be merged or eliminated, Israel’s government desperately needs a ministry or authority for national priorities and the implementation of civil rights.
Israel’s founding fathers, namely the signatories to the Declaration of Independence, though coming from vastly different ideologies, agreed that “the State of Israel will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all citizens, irrespective of religion, race or sex. It will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture. It will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions…..”
There’s a missing word – “residents.” It’s a known fact that certain residents of Israel who wish to become citizens have had their applications denied year after year. Some who are non-Jewish, but were married to Israeli Jews and have Israeli-born children, were deported after divorce or widowhood.
Some Arabs whose families have lived in this country for generations are also denied citizenship and most of the civil rights that go with it.
How can we ever make peace with the Palestinians while continuing to discriminate against Arabs in our midst?
Some of the Arabs living in Israel are married to Arabs living in Gaza. Before October 7, the Gazan spouse used to come to Israel every few weeks for two or three days. This is no longer permitted, and families rely on social media platforms to stay connected. If the Gazan spouse had been coming to Israel for years and never violated any Israeli laws, is it not a violation of the civil rights of the partner living in Israel to keep the two of them apart?
When Soviet authorities imprisoned Natan Sharansky and kept him apart from his wife Avital for 12 years until they were reunited with the help of US president Ronald Reagan, US diplomacy, and a prisoner exchange, the mobilization of world Jewry for the whole period in which Sharansky was incarcerated kept the issue burning.
Gazan spouses barred from Israel don’t have that kind of support, though their plight is occasionally mentioned in left-wing publications and on social media.
Of course they cannot be compared with Sharansky, who was a dissident dedicated to exposing Soviet tyranny and facilitating the emigration of Soviet Jews. But the bottom line in both cases is the break-up of family.
Family break-ups among Israeli families have also occurred because the husband, a reservist, spent too long away from home while serving in the army and was not adequately compensated for the loss of income.
There has to be a ministry other than social welfare that concerns itself with humane and human rights issues.
