When Sharon offered him the posting late last week, Netanyahu laid out one primary condition, which was a demand for early elections. Netanyahu is, of course, very interested in running for the Prime Minister’s job himself, and likely can’t wait for the chance. But there is more to his call than mere personal ambition.
When the call for early elections was made, practically every politician and analyst in the country was unanimous in calling for a quick campaign, a halving of party election budgets, and an immediate recess of the Knesset to prevent populist legislation from being passed through a lame-duck Knesset. All of these calls bore in mind the dire economic straits in which Israel finds itself, and this was also Netanyahu’s stated reason for demanding early elections.
Netanyahu arguably has a pretty good grasp of the economic situation in Israel and what is necessary to solve the problems we face. In his first term as Prime Minister, Israel enjoyed its best economic performance in history, and exponential growth in foreign investment, while rapidly becoming home to the world’s second largest hi-tech community. Since leaving office, Netanyahu has spent a good portion of his time paying attention to these areas as they dwindled and honing his ideas of how to restore this prestige.
Netanyahu rejected the opportunity to re-take the Prime Minister’s chair in 2001, claiming that the composition of the Knesset would hamstring his government. He had no intention then of operating a national unity government – something that Sharon proved was necessary. But he knew that no serious economic recovery plan would be possible with this Knesset. In that, he was proven right – to the detriment of every Israeli citizen.
Israel today is in the midst of the worst recession it has experienced in its history. Unemployment is the highest of any country in the Western world, and Israel’s poverty rate of 1 in 5 is unconscionable. The governments of the past four years have paid almost no attention to the economy with the result that Israel runs the very real risk of imploding under harsh economic conditions.
Sharon has done a masterful job of uniting the nation, convincing most of the population that Oslo was a mistake, that Yasser Arafat cannot be trusted, and that the Palestinians are not interested in peace at all, but in making war on Israel. But Sharon is not prepared to arrive at the necessary logical conclusions these truths indicate. He told the National Union faction that he would not agree to declaring Oslo null and void – something that Arafat did two years ago. And other than nominating Shaul Mofaz as his Defense Minister, there is no indication that Sharon is prepared to unleash a pro-active defense of Israel’s population by actively crushing terrorism and either expelling or killing off all the terrorists.
Netanyahu faces a very different situation now from the one that he exploited in 1996. Back then, he was following the Rabin-Peres government that gave the nation Oslo. The euphoria of the left and center still resonated, despite the spate of bus bombings in the spring of that year. He squeaked into office by the barest of margins and was given a divided Knesset through which he could not pass many of the most important elements of his policies.
Now, Sharon has set the table for him. The left is discredited and the center has shifted right. The electorate is interested in unity and strong government. And the Knesset determines the Prime Minister now, rather than being elected against him.
Netanyahu needs to unveil a full economic and social policy immediately, prior to the Likud primaries. He needs to paint a complete picture of what his government will do to help the people on the streets, the unemployed and the poor. This must include an aggressive privatization program, lower taxes, and increased spending on social programs and job creation. It needs to include intelligent infrastructural development, and creative solutions to values education in the country’s schools. He needs to tell investors and business leaders that Israel’s economic picture will get better during his term, and he needs to tell Israelis that their quality of life will be better, and how this will all be achieved.
The Likud leadership race is deadlocked. We all know what Sharon plans to do. He has indicated that his next government will be a continuation of the past two years. Economically, that is disastrous news. If Netanyahu unveils an ambitious economic and social recovery program before the primaries, it will win him the nomination and likely gain him extra support in the election, so that the new Knesset will be strong and cohesive enough to pass his programs.
This election is Netanyahu’s to win. Labor has ducked its responsibility to the people by first hamstringing Sharon’s defense plans and then pulling out of the government altogether. Sharon has shown an inability to solve the nation’s economic problems and has indicated that a future government led by him will not improve matters. It remains for Netanyahu to show the country that he will do better, and that argument must be very convincing.
Copyright 2002. All rights reserved. Yehuda Poch is a journalist living in Israel. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission of the author only.
