When an Israeli citizen approaches the ballot box, two primary considerations guide their choice: ideology and performance. Ideology is a matter of personal belief and value systems, and is hard to dispute in the context of an objective analysis. Performance, however, is a completely different story.
When we examine reality through the lens of execution, there is no room for interpretation. Numbers do not lie, and the numbers of the current government scream a resounding failure by every possible metric.
The root cause of this systemic failure isn’t just bad luck or a temporary streak of misfortune; it is a deep, structural distortion. The monstrous size of the government has become an unbearable burden that Israel’s economy and society can no longer sustain.
This isn’t just about the fiscal waste of massive budgets, superfluous ministries, and political appointments for cronies. The real, most severe issue is the chronic inefficiency that this bloated structure breeds. In the heart of the Start-Up Nation – a country built on entrepreneurship, innovation, agility, and efficiency – we find ourselves governed by a massive, stagnant, slow, and cumbersome state apparatus.
The parable of “The Fat Man and the Thin Man” has never been more chillingly accurate. The Fat Man – the bloated public sector and suffocating bureaucracy – is getting heavier by the day. Meanwhile, the Thin Man – the private sector, the entrepreneurs, and the hard-working taxpayers – is buckling under the weight, collapsing under the strain, and can no longer hold him up.
Opening markets, removing economic barriers
Instead of the government working for the citizen and serving them, the Israeli citizen has become a servant to a predatory bureaucratic machine that only hinders progress, creativity, and prosperity.
To shift this dangerous trajectory, we must first change the core mindset of those sitting around the cabinet table. The public is exhausted by politicians whose ultimate goal is merely to get elected, and whose entire vision begins and ends with the title of “minister” or a seat in the Knesset. A politician whose objective is simply to get elected is not a leader.
A true leader understands that gaining the voters’ trust at the ballot box is only the first preliminary step; the hard, real work begins the very next morning.
We need men and women of action; individuals whose inner engine and dreams are to improve, build, and fix, rather than score cheap media points.
Streamlining the government is only one side of the coin; the other, equally critical side is opening the market and removing draconian barriers from the economy and the Israeli public. We know this is achievable because we have done it before, and we proved it works.
During my previous term in the Knesset, I arrived with a sharp, clear list of reforms designed to open markets to competition and establish a truly free economy. When you arrive prepared and know exactly where you want to go, you find the way to break through the walls.
Fortunately, despite the rigid conservatism of regulators, the entrenched machinations of special interest groups, and the socialist ignorance of politicians who do not understand how growth is created, I received strong backing from then-prime minister Naftali Bennett and finance minister Avigdor Liberman. Together, we managed to unleash major structural changes in the few months that the government held together.
That work did not stop. Right now, in my car, I have a thick stack of binders filled with fully drafted, ready-to-go reforms to lower the cost of living, open up the market, and drastically streamline the public sector.
These plans exist; they are concrete and waiting for their moment. God willing, we will pick up exactly where we left off. In the next term, these binders will turn into real money that will be returned directly into the pockets of the working, productive Israeli public.
Despite the current situation, I remain absolutely optimistic, which based on the fact that I live among my people. I meet Israeli citizens every single day, and I know the immense strength, resilience, and talent that exists in this country. The people of Israel are smart, capable, and driven by good. The potential that is embedded in our citizens is limitless.
If we remove the bureaucratic obstacles and walls that the state places in their way, and allow every citizen to realize their full potential without the government blocking them with endless taxes and choking regulation, we will continue to grow, leap forward, and prosper.
It is time to return the state to its citizens and transform the government from a bloated system that acts as a deadweight into a powerful engine of growth, pushing us forward.
The writer is a former MK and deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Office.