On Tuesday, the organization Physicians for Human Rights announced that 63 doctors, psychologists and social workers had undergone training at their offices on how to fill out paperwork in a way that might prevent the planned deportation of illegal migrants.
Israel has given illegal African migrants until the end of March to accept a $3,500 stipend and voluntarily depart or face imprisonment. This policy has sparked a country-wide debate on the issue that includes a left-wing campaign comparing the deportation to the Holocaust.
But if we look behind Physicians for Human Rights’ laundered words, we will find an organized effort to teach professionals how to take advantage of their licenses and status to mislead the state and undermine the policies of the elected government.
In an enlightened country governed by the rule of law, this should result in these individuals’ immediate dismissal and the revocation of their licenses to practice. They are a disgrace to their profession and they are abusing the public’s trust. But judging from the acceptable norms in our public service sector, Israel is not and has never been an enlightened country.
This effort is just a drop in the deluge of bizarre initiatives in recent weeks, which included petitions signed by doctors, academics, diplomats, psychologists, artists, pilots and even classical musicians. The petitions reflected an ugly, anti-democratic mentality.
The problem is these power centers – the oligarchy-like professional unions that dominate a large portion of the professional fields and senior bureaucratic positions. These people feel like they are better than the public and above the law. The rules and guidelines of public service do not apply to them – rules are too trivial and insignificant for people with such hyper-developed consciences as the Israeli Left.
The deluge of petitions, much like the absurd civil disobedience threats, reflect a political phenomenon that has been largely ignored in public discourse: The latifundia mentality accepted in the old elite circles. Latifundium in Latin is an estate on a large parcel of land. The Roman Empire handed out latifundia to nobles or soldiers it wanted to reward.
So while we naively believe that the duty of public servants is to serve the public, many in the public service sector actually view their posts and jurisdictions as a sort of family-owned estate that has belonged to them for generations, or at least since “the Left founded the state.” In other words, they own the deed to the state.
If we look through a wider lens at more than just the issue of migrants, it becomes clear the latifundia mentality applies to almost all issues and areas of public discourse. The doctors, psychologists, lecturers, flight attendants and musicians who threaten civil disobedience do not see themselves as subject to Israeli democracy nor do they feel obligated to respect the will of the people or their representatives. They and their holier-than-thou conscience are better equipped to recognize what is right, moral, democratic and Jewish.
The fierce resistance to right-wing talk radio host Erel Segal’s one measly hour on Army Radio reflects the same exact mentality. Who does the director of Army Radio think he is to filch a radio hour from the left-wing oligarchy and give it to someone who is not part of their club? The same is true in all the other power centers in the country.
It starts with the thought police, nepotism and friends appointing friends to key positions in academic and cultural institutions and runs through the sabotaging qualified candidates because of their “agenda” or for not being “part of the family.” It ends with homogeneous thought singularity among former defense officials, who find it difficult to accept Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s authority or his brazen departure from their “professional” recommendations.
Over the last 40 years, most power centers have not intersected with Israeli democracy. While the public has undergone mostly positive ethical, political, cultural and sociological changes, the key central positions and the senior professional establishment are almost completely immune to these changes. A generation comes and goes, but positions for judges, lawyers, lecturers, generals, division heads and senior managers are all divvied up among the members of the tribe by the old lords of the manor, enlightened only in their own eyes and in the eyes of their descendants. The few changes that have affected the Left have been against their will and were very unwelcome.
In light of the Left’s egregious attempts at civil disobedience, not only should the government insist on implementing its deportation policy but it should also dramatically overhaul the public service sector and clear out all the anti-democratic norms that permeate it. The time has come to break the latifundia system.
Erez Tadmor is the spokesperson for the right-wing Im Tirtzu organization.
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