Netanyahu:A Storm Has Arisen

[Christina]

May 08 2007; 01:05PMBibi's Blog: See no evil, hear no evilPosted by Binyamin Netanyahu The Knesset has thick walls. They protect it from the scorching sun and the heavy winter rains but they are unable to protect it from the storm whaling outside amongst the public.This storm has risen from all parts of our nation: right and left, secular and religious, immigrants and veteran Israelis, north, south and center. What the people are saying is simple: You failed, take responsibility and quit. Members of the government are trying to shield themselves from this storm. They have forgotten that they are not only public representatives but also public servants. They would rather not listen to the people's cry. See no evil, hear no evil... The people are saying go home and they ignore their call.They try and raise strange arguments in their defense despite the fact that the Winograd report exposed something we all knew: the government has failed to perform its task. The people are calling out as never before in the history of Israel. Never before has there been such a colossal collapse in the government's public legitimacy. And what does the government do facing this harsh critique? It sits tight, turns its head sideways and says: we will fix the flaws. You will fix the flaws?! Where were you in the nine months since the war ended? We need to wait for Winograd to know that you have done nothing?! You failed to activate an emergency wartime plan, and why? After all, you had plenty of money - but even after the war you did nothing. You will fix the flaws?! You didn’t fix them so far and you will not fix them in the future because you are not the solution, you are the problem. The fundamental defect is in a failed government that didn’t know how to make the right decisions in real-time, whose take on reality was completely wrong, and whose ability to manage a war was pitiful.Because the entire population understands that this government is unable to fix anything, it needs another line of reasoning.“We have a majority in the Knesset,” they say. That is, We don’t have real answers to criticism, we don’t have a real solution for what needs fixing. What they are saying is this: We have a majority in this house. You’re out there, citizens of Israel, beyond the Knesset walls, shout as much as you want, be afraid of another round that our failed leadership could lead to. It won’t help, because we have a majority in the Knesset.The real meaning of the government’s position is: We have a majority, so we don’t care about the people.A failure, an earthquake like this has only one solution: leaving it up to the voter. Why? Because the only real solution for irresponsibility is to take responsibility, and leave the mandate to the voters. All the members of the government elected from now on - from the prime minister and until the last minister - will know that they, too, have to appeal to the voters if they want to take responsibility for this failure.Right now, politics are overtaking the people’s will, but not for long. The Knesset today doesn’t consider the public storm taking place outside: the growing disillusionment with their elected representatives, the lack of faith, the crisis of values, the leadership crisis - but at the end of the day, the public will decide.Word games and political tactics won’t help. All these are swept aside by the simple truth arising from the strength of the citizens’ voices. Our people aren’t stupid. They also don’t like it when their intelligence is belittled, and they will take action.Because the moral and democratic command is one and the same: There is no authority without responsibility. Period. You failed, take responsibility, appeal to the people.