Even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's fiercest opponents should not take pleasure at the sight of his pale and exhausted figure being dragged to Knesset votes on Tuesday. This is not the disgrace of the opposition, which is merely fulfilling its role (remember MK Emilie Moatti being wheeled in on a stretcher during the previous government?). This is primarily the disgrace of the coalition, which has failed to rein in the bully who has taken over both it and the state.
This is a textbook example of poetic justice: you reap what you sow. When you elevate an oversized, irresponsible, lawless man-child—a lawbreaker turned law enforcer—and place him at the heart of Israeli governance, you end up with the circus we saw in the Knesset on Tuesday.
Yet, with all due respect to Netanyahu’s ailing prostate, the real story in the Knesset yesterday wasn’t what happened in the afternoon but rather what transpired in the morning—in the Finance Committee. The NIS 4.5 billion budget transfer spree, orchestrated by none other than Moshe Gafni, epitomizes the rot spreading through the entity known as the "State of Israel."
This is outright looting. A group of public officials and elected representatives gathered around the public treasury and simply plundered it in broad daylight. Hundreds of billions for haredi (ultra-Orthodox) education. The overburdened taxpayer was forced yesterday to fund the haredi scheme that has allowed private education networks to operate for decades under the radar, avoiding compliance with labor laws, social benefits, and pensions; flouting the law, order, and the state itself—and ultimately shifting the cost to us. It’s enough to drive one mad.
This morning brings a slew of new burdens: water, electricity, property taxes, fuel, VAT—the prices are rising. Importers, food producers, and service providers are all raising prices. Meanwhile, net incomes will shrink. National Insurance rates will rise, tax brackets won’t be updated, and the state will reach deeper into the pockets of hardworking, productive Israelis, emptying them out.
With its other hand, the state will divert some of that money to coalition demands—to unproductive sectors and to cover up corruption, violations, and lawlessness that have run rampant for years. And all of this is happening in plain sight, brazenly, and even with pride. There’s no accountability anymore, and we’ve gotten used to it.
In the coalition that has been governing here for two years, there is no talent, no capability, no boundaries, no responsibility, and no sense of statehood—but the main thing these people lack is shame. They have stopped feeling embarrassed. On the contrary, they take pride in their actions. They no longer try to conceal or hide them. Apparently, there is no longer a price for these actions.
A coalition of destruction
The last day of 2024 perfectly illustrates what has been happening here over the past two years. This is a coalition of destruction, focused solely on one thing: fortifying the privileges of its participants (ultra-Orthodox draft evasion being one example), continuing to funnel billions toward sectarian needs, dismantling state institutions, and shirking responsibility.
This government has yet to apologize to the public for what it has done. It continues to fiercely oppose the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the events leading to October 7. It continues to issue absurd, if not nauseating, statements on a daily basis. We haven’t forgotten Minister Amichai Eliyahu’s comment that replacing the attorney-general is more urgent than rescuing the hostages. And now, another figure, Yitzhak Pindrus, has explained that while it is hard for him to look into the eyes of religious Zionists who sacrifice their lives to defend the state, it is even harder for him to bear the fact that they are paying an even heavier price—they are drifting away from religion. How tragic.
The bill for the actions of Gafni, Bezalel Smotrich, Shlomo Karhi, and their colleagues will be forced on us starting this morning. Netanyahu once used the phrase "there's no such thing as a free lunch." Well, our meal is about to become significantly more expensive today. No one will help us pay for it. This government is primarily helping itself. We will have to settle accounts with it at another time, in another way.
And yet, it’s impossible to end this column without addressing the person who dragged Netanyahu from his sickbed to the Knesset yesterday: Itamar Ben-Gvir. There’s no need to pity Netanyahu—he made his bead and had to lay in it yesterday. And that was only the beginning.
I happened to hear Ben-Gvir being interviewed yesterday by Esti Perez on KAN Reshet Bet. The man seems utterly convinced he is an unprecedented success story. He detailed his accomplishments: the vast number of weapons he has distributed to Israeli citizens and the countless emergency standby squads he has established wherever he could.
Well, someone needs to tell Ben-Gvir the following: Distributing weapons is not an achievement. Any quartermaster can do that. Setting up emergency standby squads doesn’t qualify as a notable success for a national security minister. The metrics by which you are judged, sir, are straightforward: the number of murders, the number of robberies, and people’s sense of personal security. The state of protection rackets. The number of stolen vehicles. Burglarized homes. Terrorist attacks. Murder rates in the Arab sector. Femicide.
In all these metrics, you are, quite literally, the most catastrophic failure ever recorded. You’re not even a clown—because there is nothing remotely funny about the state of our national security. Not one of your promises has been fulfilled. Not a single declaration has been kept. Under your watch, there are far more terrorist attacks, murders across all ddemographics, chaos, and far less order. The one thing you excel at is talking.
And yet, despite all this, Ben-Gvir should not be underestimated. He knows what he’s doing. He continues to win the loyalty of police officers as part of his effort to transform the Israel Police into a private militia. His grotesque campaign for police salary raises, flouting all principles of proper governance, is swaying thousands of officers to his side. He won’t rest until they all pledge allegiance to him. By the time we realize this process is complete, it might be too late.