As time passes, Prof. Dan Ben David’s concern worsens. He sees before his eyes the economy of the State of Israel collapsing, and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who used to quote his words in the past about the need to reform the education system in Israel, so that the future of the State of Israel is not destroyed, stands by and does nothing to stop the whirlwind of the legal revolution and save We are doomed.
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A few weeks ago he decided to join a long line of senior economists, including Nouriel Roubini, who predicted the economic crisis in 2008, Prof. Leo Leiderman, Prof. Dan Galai and Prof. Avishi Braverman, and sign a petition warning that the legal revolution is likely to cause a serious crisis. “We express our deep concern in view of the government’s moves that are expected to harm the independence of the judicial system and the public service, and which in our estimation will cause unprecedented damage to the Israeli economy,” it said.
He is 66 years old, the president and founder of the “Root Institution for Economic and Social Research”, an economist and a faculty member in the Department of Public Policy at Tel Aviv University, an expert in macroeconomics, international trade and the mutual influence of economics and public policy. In the past he served as a consultant to the World Bank and the World Trade Organization and headed the “Taub Center for Social Policy Research in Israel”, so even if you don’t have to agree with him, it’s hard to say that he doesn’t have rich experience and tools to analyze what’s happening now, and if he’s very worried, you should listen to what he has to tell.
These days, Ben David is in a series of lectures in Los Angeles before Jewish communities, which was scheduled a long time ago, but is being implemented in the midst of the legal revolution. He has no intention of sharing with the audience what is burning inside him, because the dirty laundry is washed at home, so he chose to be interviewed here. “In the last election, we received a promo for the full movie where we are now,” he says, “We are on a long-term economic path, which was supposed to start only in a few decades and has been brought forward.”
Third World
“Approximately half of Israel’s children receive a third-world education, ultra-Orthodox, Arabs, and children in the periphery. All this, together with a large birth rate of the ultra-Orthodox sector, will make them the majority. Those who receive a third-world education will not be able to own a farm, maintain a health, welfare and military system. Our risk is existential.”
You claim that there is an acceleration of processes, that what was supposed to happen in a few decades, is happening now?
“There is a prime minister here who is on trial, and together with some natural accomplices, which include the group that has a problem with the courts, regardless of the Netanyahu trial, because they do not want their children to go to the army and study the Liva, and believe in the supremacy of men over women, Which puts them in conflict with the court all the time.
“And then there are the three really racist parties, including two party leaders who were arrested in the past, Ben Gvir who was convicted several times of inciting racism, and Smotrich, who does not want his wife to sleep in the maternity room with an Arab woman, and with them Avi Maoz, Netanyahu’s natural partners. The problem is that they are not can be natural partners of any liberal society in the world, because they do not understand the essence of democracy.
“There is a leadership here that leads and incites the public. Haredim who enter a secular neighborhood, take over the business. This is what happened in Beit Shemesh and is happening in Gedera and Petah Tikva. This is not a society that is tolerant of others and has manifestations of racism. At the moment, they do not have a majority demographically. The one who was ahead of the demographics is Prime Minister. Together they have enough power to convey what is on their minds and Netanyahu understands the destruction he is causing to the economy.”
If Netanyahu understands the destruction caused to the economy, why doesn’t he stop?
“A very good question. I don’t know how to answer it. Of all the people in the Knesset, there is no one who understands better the damage in the short term and especially the long term. In 2009, when Netanyahu began his second term as prime minister, he would quote me in the Knesset, about the need to do Reform the education system, because of the way it destroys the future of the State of Israel, because even without the ultra-Orthodox, we are at the bottom of the ranking in education in the developed world.
“I know him, I met him before, he is very talented. Today he is not interested in meeting with people who will tell him what he does not want to hear. The man serves as prime minister more than any other person and he must think about the legacy he leaves behind. And this legacy is visible Very bad. This gang not only threatens the court, they also threaten the Bank of Israel. We were already in this movie, that the government controls the Bank of Israel and we entered hyperinflation in the 70’s and 80’s. We learned the hard way that the government should set inflation targets and not intervene.
“The impact of this is immediately seen abroad. People who are thinking of investing here, or who are waiting or who prefer to invest in other, safer places. And the most striking thing – the Israeli economy is in the best condition in the Western world in recent years, so the turn we are seeing now is completely political. We are in the third place in growth in the OECD, the second place from the bottom in inflation, with only Switzerland below us – it was not for nothing that the shekel was so strong. There is amazing high-tech here that attracts investors and money, and boom. Everything is turning around, because people abroad understand what it means to have a government that breaks all the tools of a liberal society.”
So you decided to sign the petition to warn?
“And the signatories are left-wing, right-wing economists, from the entire political spectrum. We said, pay attention, if you continue like this, you will destroy the economy. In economics, no one agrees with others on anything, but on this matter there is broad agreement from wall to wall. When I was approached to sign the letter I answered immediately, because there is no wisdom here. If we don’t guarantee that the rights of investors in Israel are preserved, that people can hold money in Israel without fear of losing its value, a disaster will happen here.
“The biggest fear is the so-called ‘run to the bank’, people will want to withdraw their money and when that happens, God help us. It could lead to a complete economic collapse. The governor warns of this, but it is dangerous to say it explicitly so as not to move in that direction.”
And to all this are added the pictures of the burned cars in Hawara, which do not help Israel’s image in the world.
“We live on the vapors of support for Israel, which comes mainly from Biden’s generation of American elders, who remember our struggle to establish the state as David against Goliath. The non-Jews see us as tanks on Palestinian cars and the Jewish youth, who are seen in Israel as illegitimate because they are completely secular, Reformed or Orthodox, we alienate. There are few ultra-orthodox in the US and the group that dominates American business and politics are mostly non-religious.”
The reformists will say, we are a 75-year-old country, we don’t need someone to hold our hand anymore
“And I will support you and say, nothing will happen if we do not receive the American aid, because we are rich. But what will happen if they do not want to sell us F-15, F-16, ammunition and American equipment? And in addition, without the American umbrella in the international institutions, the pilots, The cruisers and fighters who will fly abroad will be arrested.
“You know, 40 years ago they sold shirts with a print of our Kfir plane, with the inscription: ‘USA, don’t worry, Israel is behind you.’ How dare he say “mind your business” and more in English? This is something that Americans do not understand.
“They speak softly, but they have a backbone and they won’t let themselves be treated like that. When James Baker (former Secretary of State – LR) got upset with us, he said, ‘This is my number, when you’re serious call me and until then don’t confuse the the brain’. We don’t want to be on the wrong side of this power and we are on our way there.”
On the way to Afghanistan
How do you see Israel in a few decades, if the legal revolution comes to fruition?
“There will be a majority of people here who oppose the values of a democratic state. According to CBS forecasts in 42 years, 49% of children aged 0-14 will be ultra-Orthodox. On them you will add the children in the state religious education system, where they receive the brainwashing of the religious parties. Does anyone teach them about those who live in the territories they want to annex to the State of Israel? Most of the children who leave the religious state education system are perfectly fine, but their leadership is in a completely different place.
“Today there is no representation for the large community of Israeli religious Jews who think differently from Ben Gvir and Smotrich. When you look at birth rates, the secular have an average of two children, the religious four and the ultra-Orthodox 6-6.5. If we do not make a real transformation in education, that they be given the tools to work in a modern system and receive the The rules of the democratic state, there is no wisdom here.”
Will there be a Halacha state here?
Demographics lead us there. We are starting the processes that happened in Poland and Hungary, taking over the court, the media, but the final goal is to become Afghanistan, where the demographics are going.”
How do you stop it?
“In the elections”.
According to you, at this rate there will be no elections here
“The majority in Israel is normal and wants the state to exist forever. I hope that this business will fall apart as quickly as possible, perhaps by Netanyahu who will attract Nazra, perhaps in a plea deal. Netanyahu should understand that his legacy will be the destruction of the third house. What can prevent this is the sane right, the center , the left and the Arabs, who we saw want to be part of the story, because we are still the large majority. “We need to make a fundamental amendment to our education system, which will reach all children, especially the ultra-Orthodox, and change the system of government, create a constitution, and buy time.”
And if it doesn’t happen?
“We don’t have to look far. Lebanon went through this process. It was considered the Paris of the Middle East, until the religious Muslims took it over. It lost the educated stratum that ran away with the money and internal struggles between groups began. What brought down the Soviet Union was the collapsed economy and what makes it possible For Israel to be the power that we are, it’s the ability of people to think outside the box, to challenge the conventions. When we don’t allow it and say that we must obey those who give instructions, we are doomed. I always thought it would happen when my grandchildren were my age, but the hourglass is fast approaching us.”