As more officials leave Finance Ministry, is Katz losing control?
In a building block game called Jenga, the object is to remove as many blocks as possible before the tower collapses.
By HAGAY HACOHENForeign Minister Israel Katz attends a cabinet meeting, December 2019.(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Finance Minister Israel Katz suffered a walk out by three top-ranking officials in his ministry in the space of just four months. They are director-general Keren Terner-Eyal, whom he had appointed, budget chief Shaul Meridor and accountant-general Rony Hizkiyahu.True, cemeteries are full of people who thought they were irreplaceable, yet it’s also true that during a global pandemic with surging unemployment figures and ongoing massive nation-wide protests it doesn’t look good when the people handling the nation’s money flee the ministry meant to manage it.In a building block game called Jenga, the object is to remove as many blocks as possible before the tower collapses. Whomever is responsible for the collapse of the tower loses. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz, Katz and others seem to be taking turns in an attempt to buy time as they remove pieces and pile them up.The biggest block at the moment is the budget. Terner-Eyal reportedly walked out when she realized she is expected to oversee a one-week budget to be passed in late December. This is the 2020 budget Netanyahu refused to pass until now, using COVID-19 and the global disruption it caused as his excuses.Under him, with Katz offering support, the country is currently managed by “black boxes” a financial device originally meant to provide funds during earthquakes or floods. This is how the government now pays for education and defense, via financial machinery with very little oversight in the Knesset.Meridor reportedly angered Katz when he voiced his objection to the “Check for Every Citizen” plan, claiming it would turn Israel into a populist country where a leader buys support by throwing public funds at a broken system.Netanyahu told the public that “we shouldn’t be afraid to take loans.” Katz addressed the public repeatedly and presented plans: The Safety Nets Plan and the Beating Heart Plan, all new benefits for the unemployed that were announced in early October.But on Sunday, the National Insurance Institute (NII) informed the public that the unemployment benefits don’t mean much until they are passed into law.“There is no point reaching our call centers about it,” the NII said, “we promise to update you the moment a law is passed.”Katz promised to pay unemployment benefits until June 2021, yet whenever the public asks how Israel means to pay back its new NIS 300 billion debt, which it took on in the last half year, it is told UAE investments, hi-tech, and faster flights to South America via Sudanese airspace will save the day.
Whichever scenario plays out, what is clear is that it will be difficult to implement it when the top echelon of the Finance Ministry is vacant. Katz is reportedly encountering difficulty finding new officials to appoint to fill these roles due to a fear of getting stuck with the financial failure that everyone senses is coming.Israel has to get its economy back on track. To do that, the government has to stop playing politics and begin caring genuinely for the citizens, many of whom are in dire need of help.
