People like Jeffrey Sachs, Mearsheimer, Judge Napolitano, to name a few, as well as many on this email list, continue beating the "Israel Lobby" and "NeoCons," as the source of Mideast war incitement, as if poor dumb, non-Jewish American Conservatives, have no agency, nor hostile global intentions themselves. With the aforesaid willfully ignoring the role that U.S. Conservatives/MAGACons, have in supporting the likes of Ben-Gvir, and vice versa, in subverting both systems, that flawed as each is, are growing ever increasingly more repressive. And the aforesaid ignoring as they do in promotion of "Realism," that we have "interests" in the Mideast, as our own POTUS makes so clear, with that the latest mantra to justify our wars as "interests-based war," with those "interests" facially apparent as those of our Plutocrats, as promoted by the Koch Network's media. In their refusal as "Old Dogs" to learn "new tricks," they are fully complicit as points of the mosaic leading us to catastrophe, notwithstanding their otherwise sound judgment on foreign policy. In that refusal, they contribute to the false "narrative" of the Traditional Conservatives being the "Peacemakers," which is totally false as everyone here who once had to deal with far-rightists like Barry Goldwater during the Cold War know fully well.
U.S. Conservatives have been as actively involved in subverting Israeli democracy (such as it is, excluding the Palestinian, but with at least some Israeli "liberals" on the left willing to grant rights to Palestinians, unlike the Right which universally calls only for continuing expansion and repression.
Quote: "He added, "Those same forces that pushed for the judicial overhaul and tried to weaken the media are now turning their attention to the public sector. This isn't about efficiency – it's about dismantling the institutions of Israeli democracy, one by one."
Kohelet and the Heritage Foundation, and their media/think tank allies, The American Conservative magazine and Quincy Institute, relentlessly promote US Conservatives allied with Israeli Conservatives, sharing the exact same goal as above, as repeatedly seen in all. With libertarians joined to them, such as Ron Paul and Thomas Massie with their enthusiasm for DOGE, going back to what I just shared that "you could not pick and choose between “rods.”
Lawmakers from the coalition and opposition will present proposals on Wednesday to establish government efficiency programs for Israel. The initiative is inspired by similar initiatives being implemented by the Elon Musk-led project in the Trump administration in the U.S. and Argentina.
The proposals are allegedly influenced by conservative think tank Kohelet Policy Forum, a key player in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government's judicial overhaul.
MK Dan Illouz (Likud) at the Knesset last May.Credit: Noam Moskowitz/Knesset
The chief executive of the Kohelet Policy Forum, Meir Rubin, raised the idea of creating a government efficiency program in Israel inspired by the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, a few weeks ago.
The Kohelet Policy Forum, a libertarian conservative think tank, assisted the Netanyahu government's efforts to curb Israel's judiciary, from the government's swearing-in in January 2023 until the October 7 Hamas attack.
A protest against federal employee layoffs at Yosemite National Park, California, on Saturday.Credit: Laure Andrillon/AFP
Haaretz has reported that Justice Ministry documents show the forum cooperated closely with Justice Minister Yariv Levin in drafting the overhaul legislation, marketing it to the public and attempting to stop the protests against it.
One proposal, prepared by Likud MK Dan Illouz, is signed by MKs Idan Roll (Independent) and far–right lawmakers Simcha Rothman, known as the architect of the judicial coup (Religious Zionism) and Yitzhak Kreuzer (Otzma Yehudit). MK Moshe Tur-Paz of the centrist Yesh Atid will present another proposal.
Both MK Illouz and MK Tur–Paz denied that the right–wing think tank had any involvement in drafting their bills. However, the explanatory notes for both proposals contain identical paragraphs.
For example, the explanatory notes for both proposals state that leading countries around the world understand that "a smaller, more efficient government provides better services to its citizens at a lower cost and allows the economy to thrive.
"In the U.S., Elon Musk leads DOGE – a groundbreaking government body aimed at identifying and reducing waste, eliminating burdensome regulations, and streamlining public systems. In Argentina, President Javier Milei is leading an unprecedented effort to reduce the public sector, lower taxes, increase competition, and break the power of bureaucracy and interest groups like powerful labor unions," the bill read.
President Donald Trump, left, claps as Elon Musk, currently the head of Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, at a campaign event in October, in Butler, Pa.Credit: Alex Brandon/AP
According to the explanatory notes, Milei and Musk do not take a cautious and measured approach; instead, they act "with determination and a broad view of the need for real change – and these things are working."
"Government spending has decreased, the economy has streamlined, public services have become more accessible and faster, and the burden on citizens has lessened," the notes read.
The notes continue by stating that in Israel, it is now time "to act with the same determination." Due to the war in Gaza and an increased defense budget, they wrote, "we can no longer afford a cumbersome public sector, heavy regulation, high taxes, and interest groups blocking competition and progress."
Illouz added in his proposal that "reducing bureaucracy, curbing the power of labor unions that harm competition, reducing government involvement, and restoring economic responsibility to the private sector are necessary."
MK Moshe Tur-Pas at a Knesset committee meeting, in 2023.Credit: Noam Moskowitz/Knesset
Tur-Paz told Haaretz that, like any system that has been in place for many years, "bureaucratic systems need updates." He added, "The fact that Elon Musk does this in a grotesque manner doesn't mean that's how it should be done here."
According to him, "Yesh Atid has been working to improve the status of the middle class since its establishment, and the goal of this proposal is to create an internal efficiency department within the government without throwing out the baby with the bathwater – maintaining public service while streamlining."
Itamar Avitan, head of the Strategy Division at Israel's Histadrut labor federation, said, "Public officials should work hard to improve public services, but the proposal promoted by Kohelet Forum representatives in the Knesset aims to purify and dismantle the public service as a top priority."
He added, "Those same forces that pushed for the judicial overhaul and tried to weaken the media are now turning their attention to the public sector. This isn't about efficiency – it's about dismantling the institutions of Israeli democracy, one by one."
