Stalinism at the Foreign Ministry?
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has a penchant for rubbing against the grain of Israelis with some of his more abrasive statements.
Today’s Jerusalem Post contains an item in which an unnamed Foreign Ministry official accuses Liebermann of trying to initiate a “Stalinist” regime inside the ministry in order to strike fear in the hearts of ministry workers. This came after Lieberman approved the suspension of a senior official accused of having leaked information to the media.
The incident exemplifies the problem prevailing within the Foreign Ministry and other civil service divisions in Israel where too often officials have become so full of themselves that they seem to have lost the plot.
They do not seem to appreciate that if one of them leaks restricted information to the media or any outsider, such a person is committing the ultimate breach of responsibility and ethics in his capacity as a civil servant. Such a person should be terminated not suspended.
It is only in the insane climate of Israeli politics that completely appropriate disciplinary action against such irresponsible behavior is referred to as “Stalinist”.
The diplomat involved, Alon Bar, who Lieberman had previously described as “one of our brilliant diplomats”, previously served as former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni’s diplomatic advisor.
There is a need to institute a compulsory seminar for all civil servants to undergo prior to taking up civil service posts. The course should explain to them in black-and-white terms that the role of a civil servant is to serve his minister and not to usurp the role of an active politician. The Foreign Ministry, more than any other department, should be made conscious of this.
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Isi, you are again spot on, as usual. But there are a number of other matters in Israel that worry me.
Just recently Gen. Ashkenazi was saying that returning the Golan to Syria to eventually get it away from Iran; that’s politics. That set me to thinking about the Second Lebanese War where Bint Jala was taken by commandos three times and seemingly pulled back on political grounds. My point is pollies need to win the peace and generals need to win wars.
And a few other things. I noticed in the past some pretty stupid recommendations by intelligence chiefs. Even if we sneer that military intelligence is an oxymoron, it seems to me that some of the analyses were based on political leanings rather than objective facts.
I am also worried by Israel’s Supreme Court which seems to be running a political agenda in defiance of the will of the majority. It seems to me that the Knesset must legislate to over-rule the Court on matters it considers vital to Israeli society and security. It seems to me in far-away Australia, that the court finds it important to look good to “progressives” and so judges Israel and Jews according to the double standards of that group.
I am maddened by some of the anti-Israel reporters, foreign funded or affiliated NGOs and (pseudo) academics who vilify Israel. Israel is at war and treason should not be tolerated. Even if peace ever comes, something will need to be done to curtail the activities of various groups from exercising the very freedoms they seek to deny to their fellows.
Finally, some checks and balances need to be applied in the various arms of governmnet, as in the USA and of course the electoral system must be altered with MKs loyal to Israel’s enemies excluded. And, oh yes, the strangle hold of the despised religious mafia on Israeli society must be broken, for the sake of Israel and for the future of Judaism.