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November 28, 2003/Kislev 3 5764, Vol. 56, No. 10
Israel undergoes internal revolutions
JOSEPH AARON
Chicago Jewish News
There are revolts afoot in Israel. And they have nothing to do with the Palestinians.
When we hear about Israel these days, all we pretty much hear about are the Palestinians and the terrorism they commit.
But while the terrorism Israel has been suffering the past few years is indeed heartbreaking, it does not threaten the existence of the state. Israel is a powerful country, well able to defend itself.
The fact is that the greatest threats to Israel today are not external, but internal.
While Israel's ability to survive is not in doubt, its ability to thrive is - for two major reasons. First, its antiquated economic system is 50 years behind the times and threatens to keep Israel from embracing an increasingly globalized world. Second, its antiquated religious system, where church and state are not separate and where only one stream of Judaism has all the power, is creating tension and breeding Jewish disunity.
Thankfully, something is finally being done about both those problems.
In terms of Israel's economy, what is going on is truly revolutionary. Israel's economy is on the cusp of finally, after 55 years, being set free, all thanks to none other than Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu, without question, was the worst prime minister in Israeli history. He made everything worse. And yet, if he sticks to his guns, he has the potential of being not only Israel's best finance minister, but also the father of its economic miracle.
He is doing what Israel should have done decades ago - dismantle its Communist-like, socialist system that taxes too much, subsidizes too much, regulates too much and stifles and strangles the free market.
Those who set up Israel's economy back in 1948 wished to emulate the lessons of Marx and Lenin. Starting a business in Israel was almost impossible, requiring years of jumping through government hoops and being handicapped by red tape. For citizens, it meant confiscatory taxes of as much as 90 percent of income. For workers, it meant a labor union paradise with gigantic raises each year, with protections that made it impossible to be fired.
Netanyahu is trying to change all of that.
He's lowering taxes, he's selling off government-owned businesses, cutting the federal budget and government regulation, dismantling monopolies and refusing the demands of the unions.
In short, he's transforming Israel into a free economy.
The unions, of course, used to cushy contracts and running roughshod over the government and the public, don't like it one bit. They are doing all they can to resist Netanyahu's efforts. So far, Netanyahu has stayed the course.
The unions know if they lose this one, their days of irresponsible self-interest are over. Netan-yahu equally knows that if he can accomplish what he has begun, Israel will be a far better place.
The stakes could not be higher, which is why American Jews need to lessen their focus on the intifada and not miss what's going on with the economy. We need to raise our voices in support of what Netanyahu is doing, let our brothers and sisters in Israel know how vital it is that he succeed.
The Arab states no longer threaten Israel's survival. But Israel must get its economic system in order if it is to compete in the 21st century.
How sad is it that the man recently named Forbes magazine's entrepreneur of the year is an Israeli who moved to California, one of many of Israel's best and brightest who have left in search of freedom and opportunity.
And speaking of freedom, another blessed event is the secular revolution being brought about by Justice Minister Yosef Lapid. Lapid is working hard to end the monopoly the Chief Rabbinate has had on religious life in Israel since 1948 and open the door to true pluralism and religious freedom for every Jew in Israel.
Under Lapid's plan, the Religious Affairs Ministry will be dismantled by year's end and its departments moved to other portfolios. The rabbinical courts will go the Justice Ministry, pre-conversion academies to the Immigration and Absorption Ministry and local religious councils to the Interior Ministry.
"This is a momentous turning point in the struggle to achieve the creation of a pluralistic society in Israel, based on a more sensible accommodation of issues of religion and state," said Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, executive director of ARZA/World Union.
Both Netanyahu and Lapid are in for very bitter fights. Those who have stifled freedom in Israel by their monopolistic and self-serving control of the economy and of religious affairs are not going to give up easy. But these are fights worth having, and American Jews must hope and pray that, in the end, they will prevail.
Joseph Aaron is publisher and editor of Chicago Jewish News.
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