A storm of criticism erupted after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Israel Katz unveiled Sunday a new aid program for households and businesses struggling during the pandemic.
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Journalists rushed to accuse the two of trying to garner more votes ahead of the upcoming elections and did not even research the program and why it was needed in the first place.
Don't get me wrong. Of course, there's room for criticism of the clauses of the plan. The Bank of Israel, for example, pointed out that the distribution of the aid without an income criterion, which was offered this time only for children, is a waste of resources.
But journalists were not interested in legitimate criticism like that. It seems like no matter what the government does these days, we automatically suspect that we are being manipulated and bought with money.
This fear of being taken advantage of clearly comes from a patronizing attitude, according to which the people are stupid, and their votes will be swayed by a few hundred shekels.
Even those who tried to solve the housing problem with grants of hundreds and even tens of thousands of shekels did not gain any more voters. How could a few hundred shekels do the job then?
In any case, would an audience enjoy a show where every song, except the last one, was truly awful?
And if the goal was to "bribe" the public ahead of the elections, why not use the success and incredible speed of the vaccination campaign then? Surely that is a more remarkable accomplishment capable of garnering many more votes.
Perhaps the opponents of the aid package missed the fact that the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank urged governments to release funds immediately to support households and businesses.
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