Once the mist of bitterness is diffused, a pearl is revealed that should excite all supporters of equality and multi-culturalism in Israel: the 35th government is the most Mizrahi-oriented government in the history of the state.
What hasn't been said about this government? A corrupt, bloated, sullied, detached government – a government that will topple the rule of law. What do I see? I see a government of the "Second Israel", as my friend Dr. Avishai Ben Haim has defined it. "The divide between the Israeli public and its government has never been greater," MK Merav Michaeli tweeted. The opposite is true. There has never been a government that is closer to the public.
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If there is one change that I would like to see to the Israeli system of government it would be to have regional representation. Why? Because then we would have a Knesset – and by extension, a government – that would fully embody the complex range of human diversity and the many and varied needs of Israel's citizens. The needs and interests of residents of Dimona or Sderot in the south are not the same as the residents of the well-to-do cities of Ramat Hasharon or Herzliya Pituach. The needs are the difference – and so too is their level of representation. That was the case, at least, until the formation of this government.
The current government includes the former mayor of the development town Yeruham and the head of his education department – Michael Biton and Hili Tropper - as ministers of important and central functions. This isn't merely symbolic. This is significant and important because these two cannot forget – even momentarily – where they came from. And I know with all my heart that they will never let go of that fact for a second, and will constantly look out for the public whose daily lives are so interwoven with their own.
This is a government with two representatives from the Ethiopian Jewish community – Pnina Tamano-Shata and Gadi Yevarkan. Don't talk to us about "detachment", because it's clear to anyone who knows these two that they are here to work for the people who sent them. Tamano-Shata will work tirelessly to bring the remaining Ethiopian Jews to Israel, and as deputy public security minister, Yevarkan will not rest until he flattens the curve of arrests of the community's youths.
True, perhaps the government is "overstuffed" with ministers, and some areas of responsibility were put together rather crudely. But perhaps this is the only way to ensure that so many issues that up until yesterday sat in the Prime Minister's Office, or under ministers who were overloaded, will finally get a "project manager" in the form of a minister whose resources, prestige and energy are entirely devoted to making progress.
The grotesque responses to the proposed makeup of the unity government between the First and Second Israel hit new heights of racism. The comments leveled at Dudi Amsalem or Orly Levy-Abekasis broke all the usual norms of critical discourse. But this bout of revulsion is nothing more than a reaction – a response caused by the fear of the First Israel devotees that the areas of influence that they still have are being "pinched" by the representatives of Second Israel. And so political success stories which a few years ago were only imaginable, warped into objects of ridicule and contempt. The limits of tolerance and pluralism have never been clearer. But the government's critics are right to be scared. Here – we have stolen their country and now there's a chance the priorities will change.
And now the ministers of Second Israel must reach out to Third Israel: in the next round of improvements, be sure to appoint an Arab minister.
