The Other Lieberman Disaster
Not Joe Lieberman — that’s old news. I’m talking about the new Foreign Minister of Israel, Avigdor Lieberman:
[Lieberman] is the man who is going to be Israel’s public face. The appointment is a gift to those who believe that Israel is nothing more than South Africa on the Med. Especially at a time when Israel’s international reputation has never been lower, how could this come to pass? The answer, of course, is no secret: Israel’s dysfunctional politics are largely to blame. In the American system, a person like Lieberman would be marginalized. In the Israeli system, the Liebermans rise to the inner cabinet. This is also, I must say, Tzipi Livni’s fault. She could have joined a unity government and kept her job as foreign minister. But that would have been in the best interests of the State of Israel, rather than the Kadima Party, so her decision is, in retrospect, obvious.
Israel is serious about a great many things, but governance isn’t one of them.
A lot of people I know believe that the two party system sucks. Well, as a political system of governance it is pretty bad — until you see how the multi-party system works in Israel. Small splinter parties don’t have to get a lot of support at the polls. They just have to stymie the major parties enough so that they can gain the balance of power over the way the entire government functions. Kind of like the Senate filibuster except ten times worse because at least with the Senate, you’re only dealing with one part of one branch of the government.
What’s happening to Israel’s government is just plain bad — and it couldn’t have happened at a worse time in her history.
No argument about Israel’s politics but, in our two-party system, one of the two is functionally insane, built on a raft of lies about their intentions and bent on obstructing good government at all costs. Unfortunately, as we see every day on the teevee, it’s practically impossible to “marginalize” one of your only two political parties, no matter how crazy or damaging they may be.