Nine of the government ministers who took part in a demonstration earlier this week, protesting the "government's failure to combat terrorism," did the unthinkable. A minister in the government, who participates in government meetings and is called upon to vote on every one of its decisions, shares the responsibility for those decisions, even if he or she voted against them.
It is unthinkable for ministers, such as Likud's Jerusalem Affairs Minister Zeev Elkin and Tourism Minister Yariv Levin, or Habayit Hayehudi's Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, or Kulanu's Economy Minister Eli Cohen, to declare at a demonstration that "it is time for Israel to start winning again," as Bennett said, or that "we've had it with unfulfilled promises." As ministers, they helped make these government decisions.
Shaked, for her part, took the opportunity to stress that "it is time that we get a full-time defense minister," meaning that Bennett should be the defense minister, instead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who scooped up the portfolio after Avigdor Lieberman resigned in November.
Article 4 of Basic Law: The Government explicitly states that "the government is collectively responsible to the Knesset; each minister is responsible to the prime minister for the field of responsibility with which the minister has been charged." In other words, the government and each one of its ministers are responsible for the government's actions as a collective body. Likewise, the government is responsible for the actions of each minister.
Anyone who studied civics knows that ministers are prohibited from publicly criticizing government decisions or their fellow ministers' actions. Government responsibility extends to all the decisions it makes, decisions made by individual ministers and actions taken by ministries at ministers' behest. This shared responsibility is meant to enhance the public's faith in the government, and to demonstrate that the government has one voice. Obviously, every minister is allowed to voice reservations about a specific decision, and even oppose it. But once the decision is made, even the ministers who opposed it are obligated to abide by it and refrain from criticizing it publicly.
When I mentioned this to one of the ministers' aides, I was told that "he came [to the demonstration] to identify with the pain and suffering of the settlers and to support legislation to deport terrorists' families."
I replied that this was nothing more than cheap populism, because if the minister opposes the government's policies, he should resign rather than attack the government at demonstrations. The response was, "How can he ignore his constituents who are crying out?"
In contrast with these ministers' behavior, one can't help but admire Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman's decision to resign from the government and relinquish the defense portfolio – a position he had coveted his whole life. The moment he arrived at the conclusion that he disliked the government's policy in the Gaza Strip, and when his stance that the IDF should launch an operation to counter terrorism in Gaza was rebuffed, he announced his resignation and returned to the opposition.
This is how a politician and minister in Israel should behave. A minister can't participate in government decisions – take part in government meetings and have access to confidential material – and then demonstrate with the public and declare support for their plight. This type of behavior is a cheap attempt to drum up public support, and it is dishonorable.
