by Isi Leibler
 |
The return of Avigdor Lieberman
to head the Foreign Ministry will undoubtedly exacerbate the disastrous
absence of cabinet responsibility and failure of the government to speak
with one voice. This will become especially sensitive now with Israel’s
rapidly deteriorating relationship with the Obama Administration over
Iran and the Palestinians.
I feel a sense of shame when
observing the detrimental behavior of cabinet ministers who are totally
uninhibited about publicly attacking and undermining the policies of
their own government.
The principle of cabinet
government is collective ministerial responsibility. In some
governments, cabinets are decision making bodies; in others they are
purely advisory. No matter what the extent of their function, cabinets
serve to promote the policies accepted by majority rule.
Whether coalition partners or
individual ministers, those who agree to join the cabinet are obliged to
support the government or at the very least remain silent.
Should a minister feel so
strongly against the policy adopted that he is impelled to agitate
against its implementation, he must formally resign and operate from the
ranks of the opposition. The lack of accountability by senior ministers
who publicly condemn their own government policies and continue to
retain office, effectively marginalizes the role of the opposition and
confuses the electorate. It is the role of the opposition not ministers,
to lead campaigns against government policies.
It is hard to visualize any
other responsible administration in the world that would tolerate senior
government officials who repeatedly contradict and castigate policies
which had already been debated internally and adopted by majority vote.
In the US, France, the UK or any other democratic nation, a minister or
deputy minister publicly criticizing his government would immediately be
removed from office.
That is the way Israeli cabinets
operated under the early Labor governments and the government of
Menahem Begin. It was only after the two-party system began eroding
under Prime Ministers Netanyahu and Barak that cabinet responsibility
collapsed and ministers began criticizing their government without being
obliged to resign.
In recent years, the situation
has degenerated dramatically and utter chaos has ensued. Other than a
handful of loyal members, ministers, whether from the right or the left,
display contempt for the concept of cabinet responsibility and seem
primarily concerned with pursuing their own personal agendas.
When Prime Minister Netanyahu
delivered one of the most effective speeches presenting the case for
Israel at the United Nations two years ago, Foreign Minister and head of
Israel Beiteinu, Avigdor Lieberman issued public statements
contradicting him. During a recent visit to Japan, Finance Minister and
head of Yesh Atid, Yair Lapid, announced that he disagreed with his
Prime Minister’s demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a
Jewish state. Minister of Justice and head of Hatnuah, Tzipi Livni,
never hesitates to contradict government policy in relation to the
Palestinians.
Most recently, despite his
participation in the actual cabinet decision to release the convicted
terrorists with blood on their hands, Naftali Bennet, Minister for
Economy and Commerce and head of Bayit Yehudi, orchestrated a campaign
of incitement against his government prior to the release of the second
batch. Uri Ariel, Minister for Housing and Construction also from Bayit
Yehudi, personally participated in a demonstration at the prison against
the release.
Some ministers speak out against
the government on a regular basis. Deputy Foreign Minister Zev Belkin
and Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon – both members of the ruling
Likud party – regularly publicly condemn the Prime Minister’s two-state
policy. Danon even contributed an op-ed in the New York Times to this
effect.
What makes this environment even
more bewildering is that our President Shimon Peres, whose role is
essentially ceremonial and is expected to boost unity within the nation,
is himself one of the worst offenders and unhesitatingly promotes his
personal views, frequently contradicting fundamental central foreign
policies.
Obviously the validity of
criticisms is not the point. Many Israelis, myself included, frequently
harbor critical views not dissimilar to those expressed by ministers
against the government. But once adopted as government policy, ministers
cannot pick and choose the policies they will support.
Those who justify the system
suggest, pathetically, that such behavior reflects the exuberant freedom
of expression which infuses Israeli politics. Nothing could be further
from the truth. Cabinet disarray is causing us immense harm on the world
stage, presenting our leaders as an irresponsible and squabbling
rabble, creating confusion amongst our friends and allies and playing
into the hands of our enemies. We are being perceived as a banana
republic, and create our own diplomatic crisis each time a minister
contradicts official policy.
In the coming months, we will be
entering into an extraordinarily complex and difficult diplomatic era.
The United States has distanced itself from the Middle East but
continues to cling to the flawed concept that the Israeli -Palestinian
conflict is the central factor responsible for tension and turbulence in
the region. The Obama Administration seems determined to pressure us
into making additional concessions to appease the Palestinians,
irrespective of the consequences to our long term security. It will
require a delicate diplomatic tightrope balancing act to resist such
pressures whilst retaining the vital support of Congress and the
American public.
There is a need to recognize
that in the course of balancing these countervailing pressures
confronting us and in order to protect our long-term security interests,
our government will, from time to time, invariably be obliged to make a
number of unpopular decisions that may antagonize many Israelis. That
is the leadership role which a responsible government is obliged to
take.
In such an environment, more
than ever, it is imperative that a united government speaks on behalf of
the majority of the nation.
Prime Minister Netanyahu must
enforce government discipline. He must insist that any minister who
feels morally obligated to publicly oppose government policies must
first resign and only then is free to campaign against the policy - from
the ranks of the opposition. For their part, ministers must assume a
sense of responsibility, set aside their short-term interests to regain
public trust and make international diplomacy possible. Israel cannot
function as a respectable, democratic nation state unless its leaders
subordinate their domestic ambitions to the national interest.
This column was originally published in the Jerusalem Post and Israel Hayom
Isi Leibler may be contacted at ileibler@leibler.com
Source: http://wordfromjerusalem.com/?p=4889
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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