See to Our Needs First, by Prof. Israel Aumann (Ynet- Opinion)
Prof. Israel Aumann: There is no leadership crisis, but rather, crisis among the people
Commentary;
The “crisis among the people” which Professor Aumann speaks of evolves from the fractionalization and fragmentation of the people, such as what brings religious political elements to support an Oslo, to support a Peres presidency, etc.
And it is this fragmentation which permits the current leadership, to divide and conquer and thus maintain and perpetuate its entrenched political and governmental power. This is what the people must change — NOT merely with their feet, walking to the election booth and voting for a Feiglin or a Marzel or an Uri Ariel — all on one unified team. Everything which comes before must change resulting in enabling them to be viable and to win.
It includes “in the street activisim” by hundreds of thousands of Jews, 24/7.
Only when we reach the ability to initiate and carry through this step, will we bring about the leadership which we so dearly need; the leadership that will hasten the day when Jewish brother shares mutual responsibility with and for his Jewish brother and cheating, deceit and political corruption and self-enrichment are no more. MB
Full Text;
The question is not whether to enter the Gaza Strip or not. Before discussing Gaza we must first enter Israel and mend the deep crises created among the people.
What is happening today in the Gaza Strip is the direct result of Israel’s failed and defeatist policies over the past 15 years. Since
my opinion has been sought, I say that this is a policy destined to bring about the demise of the State of Israel. It’s not just the policies. It’s also the defeatist state of mind. All day long people are screaming “Peace, peace, and gestures, gestures!” Concessions and disengagements were made and settlers expelled. All this has ultimately achieved the opposite result.We have to stop the empty slogans such as “Peace is made with enemies and not with friends.” In order to achieve peace we must first and foremost be prepared for war. We have to change this state of mind at the core. It wasn’t only the Romans who said that those who seek peace should prepare for war. Even in game theory, for which I received the Nobel Prize, says so. We have to be emotionally prepared to bear and to inflict casualties – and not to scream “peace, peace,” all day long. Only if we are prepared to kill and be killed – we shall not be killed. This is the paradox of war.
We have to extract ourselves from the bubble in which we are living and to understand that we are under a great existential threat.
I hear the arguments saying that everything stems from a leadership crisis. There is no leadership crisis – the crisis is entirely among the people. We elected our leadership knowing full well who these leaders are and what they are capable of. We elected this leadership six months after the expulsion from Gush Katif – and thus we endorsed the expulsion with our own hands. So don’t say there is a leadership crisis, the crisis is entirely among the people.
Prof. Israel Aumann is an economics Nobel Prize laureate