73 Days to Go

Israel’s Challenge: Qualified Leadership

By Sherwin Pomerantz

There are now 73 days to go before the scheduled opening of the UN General Assembly in New York and the possible vote on Palestinian statehood. The Palestinian Arab leadership has another week to decide whether to file the application or not and there are indications now that the leadership is wavering vis-à-vis its decision to proceed or abandon the effort.

Yesterday the Dutch leadership made it known that they are not prepared to support such a unilateral move on the part of the Palestinian Arabs and it would appear that the much sought after European support for the initiative is anything but assured. So time will tell how serious September 14th really is right now.

But while the government’s attention here has been turned almost exclusively to the potential events in September and the current activity to prevent a new flotilla to break the blockade of Gaza, the other problems in the region remain in place. For example the future political leadership of Egypt and how it will view its relationship with Israel remains an unknown. We know that there are voices within the country actively pushing for a diminution of that relationship and overnight there was yet a third sabotaging of the Egyptian gas pipeline in the Sinai which supplies natural gas to both Israel and Jordan. So the signs are worrisome.

In addition, Syria remains in the throes of civil unrest with hundreds of deaths already reported and no end to the chaos in sight. It is almost impossible to predict what will happen there and, regardless of the outcome, its ultimate effect on Israel.

Finally, the Iranian nuclear issue which our current Prime Minister has said time and time again is the most serious problem we as a country face, seems to be no closer to positive resolution today that it was when he was elected two years ago. The Iranians continue to move forward with the nuclear weapons initiative, despite their remonstrations to the contrary, and their continued bashing of everything American and Israeli.

While the government here seems to be handling the diplomatic aspects of scuttling the flotilla quite well and has made some inroads on the Palestinian statehood issue as well, people here still have the feeling that we simply don’t have the best people in place heading various ministries of the government. Because of coalition politics individuals end up in jobs for which they are neither properly prepared nor intellectually competent to handle. Our ministers of Foreign Affairs, Finance and Industry, Trade & Labor are three that stand out. The first has become persona-non-grata in most world capitols, the second was pushed into the position with no prior experience in economics and the third spent all of his professional life in the agricultural sphere far away from dealing with the issues of economic development attendant to his new position. Couldn’t we have done better?

We are fortunate in this country to have some of the brightest people heading up significant commercial enterprises, universities and think tanks, whose expertise is acknowledged in world forums. Yet these people seemingly are rarely if ever tapped for government service or, in some cases, when asked, are not prepared to expose themselves to the vagaries of a government run under the challenges of coalition politics. After all, wouldn’t the CEO of the largest manufacturer in the world of generic pharmaceuticals be a good Minister of Industry, Trade & Labor? Wouldn’t a former Ambassador to the US who also did a productive stint as the president of one of the country’s largest universities make a good candidate for Minister of Foreign Affairs? And don’t you think the head of one of Israel’s major investment houses who has years of financial management experience, degrees from the world’s best universities and a track record of financial success would make a good prospect for Minister of Finance?

Well, if this country is going to get past middle age successfully, at some point the Prime Minister and his top advisors will have to look beyond the governing coalition to the people here who really know how to manage and have the professional experience to qualify them for their positions, regardless of their politics. Until that happens we will continue to muddle along, selecting our ministers on the basis of their political strength rather than their professional capabilities.

Former US President Theodore Roosevelt once said “The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them when they do it.” Now there’s a lesson our leadership needs to internalize!