Business in the Opposition
Businesses and their owners tend to stay out of politics and find it wise to do so. The risk of antagonizing those who disagree with you politically is sometimes too much of a risk to the business, as well as to one’s social reputation. The admirable and honorable thing is to be “above” politics, to avoid attention and focus on making money. But at some point in one’s life and career the importance of sharing one’s voice overcomes any concern of the consequences. After all, there is little value to an independent mind, if you can’t express it freely and openly.
Like everyone I know and work with in Israel, I too am utterly opposed to discrimination based on race, religion, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation, and refuse to do business with anyone who discriminates. This only needs to be said because a fanatical group of religious settlers and provocateurs, who were elected due to their uncompromising and extremist views, are proposing a “religious exemption” to the anti-discrimination law that would authorize discrimination on religious grounds.
But the only reason anyone suddenly takes the proposal of these fools from the “Judean People’s Front” seriously is because the incoming government is determined to upend the Israeli political system by neutering Israel’s independent judiciary, which could generally be relied to disqualify such a discriminatory law. The core of this “judicial reform” will allow a simple majority of the Knesset to override any supreme court objection to a law, making the court’s role merely advisory. Because Israel still lacks a constitution this means all the “basic laws,” which provide for individual rights and the separation of powers, can be altered and annulled by the present ruling government.
This is the primary policy proposal that should frighten fellow Israeli citizens because it effectively removes the sole safeguard against a “tyranny of the majority” in a democratic Israel. Without those protections, democratically elected tyrants will abuse (or threaten to abuse) the defeated minority and ensure they remain a minority. Those on the right and left with authoritarian impulses cynically call this “democracy,” a designation I should note also embraced by many countries ruled by tyrants.
I’ll happily wave the LGTBQ flag in solidarity with my brothers and sisters, but alongside the black flag which signals the grave threat to liberal democracy that confronts us all (and of course with the Israeli flag).
For too many people in the business world, the act of making money and protecting it is the sole prism through which they view individual freedom. They believe that the capitalist pursuit of riches is the vanguard protecting individual freedom, while liberal values impede and restrict that “noble” capitalist pursuit. It is the worst American import to Israel since Rabbi Kahane and it is having a corrosive effect.
While I do believe in economic freedom and capitalism, its importance to me pales in comparison to civic principles such as equality before the law, freedom of thought and expression, and freedom from discrimination to name a few. I mention this because Israel’s economic right and their American supporters have found common cause with anti-liberal platforms and parties in Israel that advocate for a weakened Israeli judiciary. One that would be impotent against a law legalizing discrimination.
Israel’s strength as an entrepreneurial, high-tech ecosystem rests on individual freedom as much as economic freedom. Citizens don’t want to live in a country where rights can be taken away and their fellow citizens harassed, where vast parts of society avoid military/national service and are paid not to work, and where former convicts dictate police policy and control the treasury ministry. Like capital itself, entrepreneurs and their investors are highly mobile, and able to take advantage of more welcoming environments. Testing how far a government can go to satisfy extremist elements before the cracks appear is a perilous game that will rapidly unravel decades of work to build an industry that is pride of this country and envy of the world.
It is without reservation that I declare my detest for the incoming government of this country I love so much and my intense disapproval of those who support it. The government includes some of the most deplorable people in Israeli society and represents a threat to all I hold dear. I will therefore also reflexively oppose every policy proposal they put forth because their proposals can only reflect their parochial and sectarian worldview, personal interests, and lust for revenge. On the occasion of this new government, coming out against discrimination just doesn’t seem enough.
