Mean Me’ir’s Perk, For Doing Absolutely Nothing …

He’s Back, but Refugees Have No Home By Ido Efrati (Ynet)

Commentary;

Meir Sheetrit, he of the mean, nasty, divisive mouth, the boorish bully who is confused about his identity, roots and ideology gets rewarded with a 2nd ministry, Justice, in addition to the Housing Ministry in which capacity he utterly neglected the citizens of the north.

Meir Sheetrit has not a hint of clue as to what “Tzedek, Tzedek tierdof…” (‘Justice, justice you shall pursue…’) means. MB

Excerpts;

Instead of putting every effort into rebuilding the north, as would be expected after his dire failures throughout the war, cabinet minister Shitreet has been awarded a perk for doing nothing.

In light steps, almost like a lost son returning home, Meir Sheetrit entered the Justice Ministry. He returned to his natural habitat, the familiar corridors. “I am resuming my post at the ministry as though I left it just yesterday, I don’t need a moment of grace,” he announced.

His broad smile barely enabled him to tell the outgoing minister, Haim Ramon, that “his innocence would be proven in court,” referring to allegations of sexual harassment.

However, Sheetrit’s appointment, who until recently called for the establishment of a state appointed commission of inquiry to investigate the conduct of the war, and who suddenly made an about turn, is outrageous, if not only because of his role in the government’s colossal failure toward the home front.

Housing Ministry fell asleep during war

Sheetrit is also the Housing and Construction minister. Not many people remember this, and for good reasons: This government office is responsible for assuring that each of us has a roof over our head – but it too fell asleep while on guard during the war.

The housing ministry was supposed to be one of the first ministries to raise its heads, to gird its loins and to assure that the hundreds of displaced families would be provided housing – families whose homes and lives crumbled before them as the Katyusha rockets struck their homes. But, alas, this didn’t happen.

The housing ministry, as others, cleared the stage in a jarringly elegant way for the private sector, for wealthy persons the like of Arkadi Gaidamak (who by the way showed commendable resourcefulness), and for the hotel chains and guest houses that provided temporary roofs to northern refugees – the elderly and young included.

The Katyusha fire scattered northern citizens in every direction – those who could, took care of themselves, in the hope that their homes somewhere in the north were still standing. Those who couldn’t take care of themselves, stayed behind in the bomb shelters waiting for a hot meal, which was ultimately provided by some charitable organization.

Too little, too late

A quick examination reveals that only into the third week of the war someone at the office actually realized that there was no choice, but that they would have to begin locating housing for the displaced persons from the north.

It was only on the 31st day of the war, two days prior to the enforcement of the UN ceasefire, that Sheetrit’s ministry informed the press that they had allocated 45 apartments in Eilat, so that northern citizens “could take a break.”

We all sighed in relief – perhaps there was someone taking care of these matters after all? Needless to say, this was too little and too late. Not a single displaced person “took a break” in the ministry’s apartments in the sun drenched city of Eilat.

Those who had hoped that the minister and his cronies would now come to their senses, and reach the critical phase of finding alternative housing during the long-term renovation of the northerners’ apartments, is bound to be disappointed. The ministry informed the press that “the Ministry of Housing and Construction would,” (note the future tense), “locate 450 housing units for persons whose apartments were damaged.”

No home to return to

It appears that the thousands of Katyusha rockets that fell on the north throughout the month are not proof enough that there are quite a few families who have no home to return to. This is already happening; however Sheetrit and his team refuse to see it and they didn’t plan ahead.

As of now, the burden has fallen on the local authorities and on the property tax authorities. Only now, has the ministry announced the opening of a public complaints office, contrary to all the other private and government institutions that did so at the beginning of the war.

It’s outrageous that just as this massive and crucial task faces the housing ministry, its leader is called upon to divide his attention between the justice and the housing ministries. Sheetrit’s appointment doesn’t reflect national and rational priorities, but rather an appointment of political dealings – an unjust award for doing absolutely nothing.