Israel's new government built on a foundation of bribery

Haaretz reporter wrote:

Anywhere in the world, the people would have already taken to the streets. They would not agree to their prime minister paying bribes to stay in power.

What Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is saying, essentially, is that he has a problem with those Likud lawmakers who are expecting “promotions,” and to keep them satisfied enough to vote for his bloated government, he will bribe them by making them ministers, deputy ministers, or Knesset committee chairmen, and then the honor, the power, the assistants, the driver, the bureaus, and the budgets will persuade them to vote for him under any and all conditions.

What is that if not bribery? What’s the difference between this and simply paying someone money to buy their vote? It’s even worse than paying cash, because it causes more damage, both direct and indirect.

Netanyahu tells us he’s talking about “only” a few ministers and deputies that will cost the economy only a few million shekels.

This is simply not correct, because the intent of the law limiting the number of government ministers to 18 was aimed at reducing the number of ministries accordingly, by merging superfluous ministries that were only established to make work for the privileged in the first place.

Netanyahu hears the criticism and laughs. He knows the people of Israel well. He knows that no one will go out to the city square to protest, even though this festival comes at their expense. He knows “the public is stupid and so the public will pay.”

That’s why he just thumbs his nose at us and uses bribes to fortify his seat.