Last update - 00:00 09/10/2006
Post-Lebanon war group to lobby for laws to strengthen PM powers
By Amiram Barkat, Haaretz Correspondent
A new political movement called Yesh Tikva (There is Hope), established in the wake of the Lebanon war, announced yesterday that it will work to pass basic laws in the Knesset to strengthen the prime minister's powers.
Supported by some 20 leading public figures and businesspeople, the group believes that rapid turnover in the government has resulted in a loss of public confidence as well as a "brain drain" of skilled and suitable people, who choose not to become involved in politics or the public sector.
The members of Yesh Tikva also see the instability in the top echelons of the government as preventing ministers from putting long-term policies into effect.
The movement's ideas for potential solutions, which have not yet been fully developed, include getting rid of the central committees of political parties, opening party primaries to the public, automatically appointing the head of the country's largest party to the premiership, and making it more difficult to topple the government.
The idea for the movement started with Prof. Gabi Barabash, director of Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv. He felt uneasy with the conduct of the government during this summer's war in Lebanon, and he discovered that many of his friends felt the same way, and decided to do something about it.
"Our feeling was that a rare opportunity had been created for a movement to succeed, because there is great readiness among the public to fight for change," said Barabash.
One of the ways the new movement wants to spearhead far-reaching reforms in the structure of government is by turning ministerial portfolios into professional appointments rather than political ones.
"The problem is that today in the executive branch there is not a single ministry that works as it should," said Ilan Shiloah of the McCann Erickson advertising agency.
"After the country was caught with its pants down, we realized that there was an existential danger at nearly every level, and that Israel cannot allow inferior conduct if it wants to survive in an environment in which there are so many threats."
But if the group wants to fight amateurism, perhaps it should start the battle at home: Yesh Tikva's platform is undeveloped and carelessly drafted.
The list of members even includes some people who have yet to decide whether they want to join. The bona fide members of Yesh Tikva - including businessmen, jurists and public figures - admitted that at the moment, they are finding it hard to dedicate enough time to it, but promised that the situation will be improved in the future.
Barabash and Shiloah have recruited a veritable "who's who" of local businesspeople and public figures.
The list includes senior administration officials such as Major General (res.) Giora Eiland, Jewish Agency chairman Zeev Bielski and well-known academics like Prof. Amnon Rubinstein and Uriel Reichman.
In addition to the large-scale reforms the members have in mind, they have also suggested some more esoteric ones, such as strengthening Knesset members professionally by adding two senior assistants with academic degrees and experience in the field.
Barabash acknowledged yesterday that the movement's proposals have not yet been fully developed, but did not think it would take long to change that. "It will take a week or 10 days," he predicted.
Barabash and Shiloah said much can be learned from failed efforts at changing the government.
The most prominent example, they said, was direct elections for prime minister, which ended up weakening the large political parties instead of strengthening them.
The next stop for Yesh Tikva is an advertising campaign that will call on the public to add their signatures to the movement's proposal for a new governmental structure.
The group's leaders believe that public pressure will help to force MKs to turn its reforms into law.
"We may be naive," said Barabash. "But naivete is power. We won't relax until the reform is passed in the third reading."