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Avram Hein is a graduate student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is a
former research assistant at the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise and he
sits on the board of directors of MERCAZ USA: The Zionist Organization of the
Conservative Movement.
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By Avram Hein
February 1, 2005
This country is run by bureaucrats and not the Prime Minister, cabinet, or Knesset. This is the only conclusion I can come to after attending a committee meeting at the Knesset this morning about the Ministry of Education's refusal to accredit valid American and French diplomas in violation of international agreements and international law.
The bureaucrats are in control, not the elected officials. The leaders of the Israeli Knesset know that there is a problem but they are powerless to solve it as long as this country is held hostage by a society of statism. At today's meeting, MK's including Colette Avital of Labor, Zevulun Orlev of the NRP, and Meli Polishook-Bloch of Shinui all agreed that the Ministry of Education's policy was wrong and harmful to olim [immigrants] and Israel's national interest. In fact, a good portion of the committee meeting was devoted to them rebuking the high-ranking representatives of the Ministry of Education. Yet the Education Ministry officials obstinately refused to see the error of their ways.
One official argued that these were the rules and there was nothing they could do about it. Somehow the possibility of changing the rules so that legitimately accredited degrees were accepted by his ministry did not cross this professor's mind. Another official, an immigrant from the former Soviet Union, argued that if Soviet degrees had problems, so would American and "ivy league" French degrees -- ignoring (or more likely ignorant of) the fact that these immigrants are coming with diplomas from the highest ranking universities in the world.
These views were echoed by the scores of other officials who were coerced to attend the meeting but do not see the errors of their ways. It was clear that the officials of the Ministry of Education were ignorant of the American and French academic systems yet these are the very officials who are being paid overly-inflated salaries to stay abreast of the latest developments in the international university scene. They do not even know what the 50-year-old internationally-renowned Advanced Placement program is! Despite clear frustration, some of the most honorable members of the Knesset appeared powerless to rectify this injustice because it was in the hands of the bureaucrats.
In America, every single member of Congress has a district office which deals primarily with constituent services which aide members of their district to cut through federal red tape. These offices have been proven to be effective. In Israel no such office exists. Even if it did, its effectiveness would be nil in Israel's sea of statism.
It is ludicrous that the Ministry of Education refuses to accredit degrees that are good enough not only for Harvard, Princeton, Oxford, Stanford or Columbia, but also Israel's own Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University. That the State of Israel should punish academically advanced students for taking Advanced Placement credits or pay graduates of Yeshiva University, consistently nationally ranked in the first tier of American Universities, as if they only had a high school diploma is but one of far-too-many examples in which bureaucrats in Israel have too much power. What truly amazed me is that, at today's hearing, Knesset members Avital, Polishook-Bloch, and Orlev acknowledged that there are many North Americans whose Zionist credentials cannot be questioned but yet who will not make aliya because the barrier of bureaucracy is blinding. There are those who think they can attract North American olim by throwing discounts of overly inflated taxes at them, or dangle pithy sums of money in their faces, yet refuse to recognize that North American Jews would take a salary cut (which would not be necessary if a free-market economy ruled here) if Israel's famous bureaucracy was butchered.
Perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps these bureaucrats are smarter than the Ivy League-educated American olim or the most educated members of the Knesset. After all, they are making more money for less work. This country is in a severe financial crisis. The clerk at the Ministry of Education told me that my degree would not be verified since my degree was granted partly on the basis of Advanced Placement credit, including Microeconomics and Macroeconomics.
Let me put my economics training to use. I have a suggestion for Benjamin Netanyahu. Fire all the clerks and replace the few that are actually needed with highly educated workers with a strong work ethic. Let it be known that their job security depends on their merit. Instead of a bureaucracy, it is time for a meritocracy. To do so will save this country millions, increase economic productivity, slow the rate of yerida (both of olim and sabras) and increase aliya from the West. Instead of calling for a million olim, Prime Minister Sharon and every Israeli needs to invest their effort on this issue. The long-term danger of Israel's statism is no less dangerous than Israel's relationship with the Arab World. As long as the bureaucrats are running this country, its future is in turmoil.
I commend the Knesset for holding this meeting but lest they think their job is over, let me assure you, it has only just begun.
The biggest danger to the State of Israel is not its conflict with the Arabs but rather its culture of statism and socialism. We have let our disagreements over how best to handle the Arab-Israeli conflict hinder this country's economic and social development for too long. Four decades ago, Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman taught us the dangers of government control. Its time we listened to him. Otherwise, statism will be suicide for Israel. That the situation has gotten so bad that the best of the Knesset is powerless to stop them is proof that we have to slash the bureaucracy now.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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