May 14, 2015 will be recorded as the day on which Israel’s 34^th Government was sworn into office. Since the modern state of Israel was founded in 1948, only 67 years ago, this means that the average duration of an Israeli government is only two years – hardly enough time to implement comprehensive national policies.

Experience lacking

The Knesset, observing 61 years of existence. Photo: Itzik Edri, CC BY 2.5 Generic License

More telling, if not outrageous, note well that the average duration of a cabinet minister is only about eighteen months! Would any corporation having a billion dollar budget hire a CEO with only eighteen months of experience?

So what kind of men or women would vie for public office knowing they would be out of job after eighteen months? Would a cultured and articulate person – or say people of practical experience and serious national vision – lust for an ephemeral political office, an office inherently incapable of overseeing any long range public policy? What kind of people would do so?

Wouldn’t such individuals be little more than jobbers, more concerned about their own personal interests than about the public interest?

Should we expect such office-seekers or politicians to possess political courage, that is, to stand for abiding national principles rather than transient political expediency?

Why Israel cannot elect good leaders

Should we expect such politicians to acknowledge mistakes of national scope and significance – think of Oslo or the Israel-PLO Agreement of 1993 – even when such mistakes result in the loss of many Jewish lives? Indeed, wouldn’t this type of politician, if elected to office after Oslo, be inclined to conceal that horrendous mistake, rather than resign, let alone adopt a remedial and constructive policy, which of course would require of him a degree of political candor, courage, and creativity unknown in Oslovian Israel?

Moreover, would not the prime ministerial and opposition leaders of such politicians be more inclined to yield to foreign pressure than to uphold their nation’s territorial integrity and cherished values?

Furthermore, inasmuch as the Oslo policy of “territory for peace” has resulted in thousands of Jewish dead and wounded, why did no Israeli politician, whether secular or religious, whether left-wing or right-wing, denounce that policy in the last election, by which time the Oslo debacle was obvious to all but the mentally retarded or deranged?

Need I mention the names of the worthies that competed in that election?☼