The State of Israel is effectively bankrupt as a bureaucratic system – 2024-04-19 06:26:06

/ world today news/ After 40 days since the start of the war that broke out in Israel, two main conclusions can be clearly drawn about the state of affairs in the Jewish state.

Both the Israeli government and the opposition proved extremely weak. All 120 members of the Knesset turned out to be political “dwarfs”. Even Netanyahu, as it turned out, is a midget who was undeservedly considered the mastodon of Israeli politics. Then what can we talk about the rest?

In fact, during these 40 days, no Israeli leader said anything intelligible, no one took full responsibility, everyone chose the usual hard tone and clung to their chairs.

We can point to several of the most obvious, striking examples of the unpreparedness of the state apparatus for war.

Thus, after the announcement of the mass mobilization, it suddenly becomes clear that the soldiers in their warehouses lack uniforms, food, water, means of communication and any military equipment.

Another example from the military sphere: the authorities allowed private contracting companies to handle the logistics of the army, which, to save money, hired Arab drivers because they were not expensive. At a critical moment, when it was necessary to transfer troops and equipment to the south of the country, these drivers refused to work.

The cherry of the cake. After the mobilization was announced, the Israeli authorities did not bother to organize the return of the reservists located abroad.

The situation was no better in the civilian sphere.

During the fighting, Israel evacuated several hundred thousand people from the border areas in the south and north of the country.

The state failed to accommodate them properly. Some were accommodated in hotels, but after more than a month it turned out that the authorities still had not paid a single shekel to these hotels!

The failure of the Jewish state in the information war, for which all state structures were traditionally unprepared, was also evident. In addition, the Israeli Foreign Ministry recently announced that it is temporarily suspending the work on clarifying Israel’s position in the world, because … the relevant budget has been exhausted.

In these circumstances, Israeli society, which until recently seemed divided into political, ideological and cultural camps, unfolded. Contrary to all predictions, society showed mutual aid, solidarity and demonstrated the presence of a national spirit. The contradictions between right and left, religious and secular, old and new were forgotten.

This is particularly notable given the fact that just a day before hostilities began, all of Israel was rocked by a new wave of protests against judicial reform.

Ordinary people donated money, bought and brought to the military bases everything necessary for the mobilized. Hundreds of grassroots horizontal associations emerged and began to provide aid to the army and refugees.

The mobilized Israelis who found themselves abroad bought tickets at their own expense and returned to their homes by detours. Some did this with many layovers due to overcrowding. Volunteers drove soldiers to their location for free in their cars.

A significant number of refugees from the southern and northern frontline areas were accommodated by ordinary Israelis, absolutely free of charge. Various initiative groups begin to create facilities to accommodate displaced people, often taking full responsibility for their provision.

Local bloggers and the general population picked up on Israeli “propaganda” – people themselves began to spread content on the networks explaining the actions of their country.

Of particular note is Youssef Hadad, who has become a kind of Israeli “military blogger”. His videos analyzing military situations and exposing Hamas forgeries gain millions of views; in fact, he alone works more efficiently than several Israeli departments.

It should be noted that he himself is not a Jew, but an Israeli Arab – Christian who served in the IDF and was seriously wounded during the Second Lebanon War.

In general, wherever at least something depended on society, Israel had success, while wherever everything depended on Israeli officials and services, there was complete failure.

And, of course, all these setbacks only exacerbate the most important thing: the very fact that Israel failed to prevent an attack by Hamas fighters that took the country by surprise.

The reason for the weakness of the Israeli state apparatus is instructive and clearly shows that any extreme is bad.

In the case of Israel, the problem turned out to be the populism of politicians who, in a highly competitive environment, follow short-term public demands and practically have no long-term planning horizon.

As a result, the servants of the people only care about how to win the next election.

As for mid-level employees, the problem here is the legacy of the socialist system under which Israel was founded (for the first 30 years of the country’s existence, leftists were in power there), namely the incredibly strong unions.

As a result, it is almost impossible to fire the average civil servant in Israel – the specialized trade union will not allow it to happen. This inevitably gives rise to a careless and sometimes downright indifferent attitude of officials towards their official duties.

Thus, the Israeli state as a bureaucratic system effectively failed, but it was society that prevented it from collapsing after organizing itself and essentially taking over many state functions.

It must be borne in mind that once the war is over and the unity inherent in any armed conflict subsides, Israeli society will also develop its own rifts.

Thus, there is no doubt that some Israelis will begin to reflect on the question of the proportionality and validity of the methods of waging war, which in turn will revive the polarization of society with a new division of left and right. The question of what to do with the Gaza Strip after the end of the military operation will also not contribute to preserving the current consolidation in Israel.

Of course, this is not a normal or healthy state of affairs and cannot continue forever. In fact, Israel’s fate in the Middle East will depend on what conclusions Israelis draw from what happened, and whether they draw them.

Translation: ES

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