Ron Huldai, Mayor of the host city, Tel Aviv,
Shlomo Buchbut, Chairman of the Union of Local Authorities,
Adi Eldar, outgoing Chairman of the Union of Local Authorities,
Director General of the Prime Minister’s Office, Raanan Dinur,
Director General of the Ministry of the Interior, Arieh Bar,
Government Secretary, Oved Yehezkel,
Mayors,
Chairman of the Forum of Regional Councils, Shmuel Riffman,
Shaul Mizrahi, Chairman of the economic company associated with the Union of Local Authorities,
Former Mayor of Sderot, Eli Moyal,
I appreciate the fact that you all came today. I am very touched.
Before I begin, I would like to say a few words to my friend, Ron Huldai, who is the mayor of the Tel Aviv Municipality, which will also serve as the center of the festivities celebrating the independence of the State of Israel. Various ideas were raised regarding which event should take center stage of the 61st anniversary celebrations for the State of Israel, and I said that the first Hebrew city was Tel Aviv-Jaffa, which is a city comprised of Jews and Arabs and which is celebrating its centenary. All the other important and significant events in the history of the State of Israel which can be celebrated as a central event in the life of the State of Israel in the year of its independence can wait until after this one-time event.
I thought, and also said, that the importance of Tel Aviv-Jaffa is such that it is a city of Jews and of Arabs, and there is nothing I want more – and my friends, the heads of the local Arab authorities in the State of Israel know this – than that in the State of Israel, even before we complete the steps towards peace between us and our neighbors, and I hope these steps are completed, we will make genuine peace based on equality and justice for the Arab residents of the State of Israel. The is no city that more symbolizes the ability to create this equality than Tel Aviv-Jaffa, which has a mayor for whom this is important, and I know he invests a significant portion of the Tel Aviv Municipality’s resources in the city of Jaffa. There is no city more suited to celebrate the events which brought together the people more than Tel Aviv-Jaffa. I hope that the celebrations of the city of Tel Aviv-Jaffa will be such that they sweep the entire nation up in them. Since six of my grandchildren live in your city, Ronny, you know I will be an active partner in these celebrations.
I would like to say a few words about a sensitive and painful subject. I will be brief, as they have already been mentioned. My heart goes out to the Shalit family – to Noam, to Aviva, to Grandfather Zvi and to all the family. I know the endless suffering and pain and longing that overwhelms them day in and day out, and I know they are sitting near my house. They have been to my home, and I know how important it is to them that their terrible and ongoing suffering should end. I can tell you with a clear conscience that the Government of Israel which I head is making tremendous efforts, with unprecedented flexibility and responsibility, in order to bring Gilad home, and I pray to the Creator, Blessed Be He, that He will help me be the one to bring him home quickly in the next few days, G-d willing.
I wish to take this opportunity to say a word of thanks to my friend Adi Eldar, who for many years served as the Chairman of the Union of Local Authorities and the Mayor of Carmiel, who was elected by a vast majority and with wide support to serve once again. He did a tremendous job. Good for you, Adi. I appreciate that you came because I know that you came despite the fact that there is an event at this time in Carmiel, and I really do appreciate it.
Shlomi, I wish to congratulate you, my good friend despite the difficult disagreements we have had. As you know Shlomo Buchbut, even when he makes an effort he cannot speak quietly. Now imagine that he at times raises his voice. When he wants to, he can yell, and when he wants to yell at the prime minister, nothing will stop him – he also yells at the prime minister. There is one thing that is in his favor, which stands above and beyond all the disagreements we had and which will occur between the head of the Union of Local Authorities, the head of a local authority and between the government – he always fights for things he believes are important for the local authorities. This is why he stood at the head of a local authority for years, one which came a long and impressive way. I was especially impressed and amazed and moved by the excellent way in which Shlomo, like many other mayors in the northern part of the country, conducted his city during the difficult time of the Second Lebanon War. You know, Shlomo; you know, Adi; you know, Benny Ben Movhar; and many others. And you, my friend, Shimon Gabso, who came from Nazareth Illit; and many others, Jews and Arabs alike, that for over two and a half years, there was not even the slightest threat to your security and to the tranquility of your lives. I do not want to engage in arguments right now, or attempt to define what comprises a successful war or a heroic war, what a painful war is and what a painless war is. There are no happy wars. I know one thing – for 40 years there was no quiet; over the past two and a half years there is quiet, there is tranquility; there is security. One can drive around; one can spend time in the flourishing North.
It is true that we are at the height of an economic crisis. It is a crisis not originating in Israel, and you know that we experienced very good years under our Government’s leadership, and these years were good for the communities of the North as well. Even today, when I look for a room to stay in for a day or two or three in the North, I have trouble finding one – they are all occupied by residents of the country who travel to the North. They feel safe; they feel tranquil; they see the fruits of your labor; they see the efforts you are investing here; they see your achievements; they see all the different developments occurring in the cities of the North – small cities, outposts, Arab communities that are becoming more developed. Let me to tell you something: the next Government – of course, it is not a government I voted for, and you know I do not hide things like this – will still look after the North. No responsible Government in the State of Israel will neglect the northern part of the country, as well as the South. I am certain it will do all that must be done. I can disagree on one subject or another with it, I do not hide my opinions, but this is a Government comprised of people who are filled with a love of the Land of Israel and a love of the State of Israel, and it will do all it can to take care of you. I am certain of one thing: if it does not do enough, Shlomo will speak up, and if it does less, Shlomo will also shout, and when he shouts, they will hear him from the northern part of the country to the South, from Metulla to Eilat – I have no doubt about this.
I want to tell you something else. It is true that it was said here that I am the first prime minister of the State of Israel who had previously served as mayor. Not as big as Ma’a lot, but still… I came to the Government already recognizing the supreme importance of local authorities in administering matters of the State. I would like to tell you something with complete honesty; I may have said this in the past, and if I did forgive me for repeating myself; we will not meet many more times in these roles, and that is why it is important for me to say things which are also a summation.
Let me tell you: I came to the local authority from the central authority, and I did not have the right picture, or one that was broad enough or deep enough of the importance of local authorities in the life of the country and its citizens. I served as a government minister beforehand, and I decided to run for mayor of a not-inconsiderably sized city, one which is complex and complicated, with a complex population – with a secular population, with a religious population, with an ultra-orthodox population, with an Arab population. By the way, Jerusalem is the largest city in Israel in all these categories. It has more Jews than the second largest city; it has more Arabs than any other Arab city in the territory of the State of Israel; it has more ultra-orthodox Jews than Bnei Brak; it has more religious Jews than any other city. To gather all these groups in one city that works, that prospers, that develops, that grows stronger is not a simple matter, and it provides one with an unprecedented opportunity to learn with which tools a mayor has to serve his citizens, and of the existing gap between government policy and the policies or tools a mayor has when he wants to serve the residents of his city is, in may cases in areas over which the government legally bears responsibility but the practical implementation is the responsibility of the mayor.
I know how difficult this is, and today I can say: I believe that we took an important step forward, but we did not take all the steps we needed to take. There are still things which must be done, and I say here with full responsibility – not as one returning to the local authority and not as one searching for a career in a small or large town, but as a prime minister who sees the picture of the entire country – there is no more efficient operational arm, none better or more helpful than a good municipality. A good municipality is better than a good government ministry. I say this as one who has seen all sides in all their sizes and from every possible direction. I do not say this so that you will like me; I would say this and preach this to more than one government member. One of the very few I did not have to convince of this, to my pleasure, was Meir Sheetrit, the Minister of the Interior. He has left, but I told him that that did not relieve me of my duty to sing his praises even behind his back. We found a common language which brought us very close together, because he was Minister of the Interior and a former mayor who understood and who knew how to make decisions and insist that they be implemented. He did so with greater vigor and dedication than one could have expected when compared with other ministers who served in this position for much longer periods, even when topics were controversial.
You previously mentioned the matter of property taxes for example. I remember how I fought over this when I was mayor. I remember the matter of balance grants. I can never forget the Government meeting which took place during the previous economic crisis, at the beginning of March 2003, when we presented the proposal to cut balance grants, and I told the Government, “Gentlemen, I am currently a government minister and do not look out for a specific city – but I tell you, be careful before you make this move, because afterwards you will need to provide cities with an exceptionally large sum of money that you are now going to cut out on the assumption that you will be able to earn some time to create some kind of balance. It may be that the budget must be reduced, and I am not against budget cuts.” It may be that the 2009 budget must be reduced, but something must be understood – there is no factor that influences the lives of citizens more than an efficient city. A city that does not receive the welfare budget from the Government at the rate it deserves, according to its condition, is doing a great injustice to many citizens, and this was the situation. I cannot make comparisons with many other cities, but each of you knows that the Government’s duty is to allocate 75% of the welfare budget, compared with 25% of the municipal budget. I recall that in Jerusalem we allocated 40% of the welfare budget. For some reason the Government provided a certain amount, but you need to understand that the Government decided that it would be 75%, and then, allegedly, according to law, the municipality had to add only 25%, but what is one to do when thousands of families are in great distress when this 100% is not enough to meet their needs? And you do not have anyone you can turn to, you have to pay out of the meager municipal budget and then provide explanations of why you went into deficit. I told them, “Gentlemen, look. In the end, if this money is not allocated for specific purposes, the mayor of Tel Aviv can decide that he does not want to turn Rothschild Boulevard into a wonderful park as it is today compared with how it used to be – I remember how it used to be. I even worked on Rothschild Boulevard over 40 years ago as a young intern and lawyer. It was something else entirely then. So he could have said, ‘I’m not doing it,’ but he could not say that he would not help a family in distress whose children are hungry for bread if he did not receive the Government budget. He will pull it out of his city’s budget, and when he does that, his budget does not go to other important things, and then rightly so, the residents will come to him and tell him, ‘What kind of a mayor are you?’ And what can he say to them, that the Government did not fulfill its duty?”
The same is true in the field of education, without going into the specific issue which has led to a complicated disagreement between us. It is not simple, perhaps because I was mayor of a city in which 30% of its pupils were ultra-orthodox, and I saw the horrible conditions in which they learned, and I saw the miserable sheds and shacks and alcoves where dozens of children were shoved, I said, there is no child aged six in the State of Israel who does not deserve a proper classroom, whether he be ultra-orthodox, religious, secular or Arab. It is no coincidence that this Government decided to build 8,000 new classrooms, 40% of which will be built in the non-Jewish sector, because we neglected this sector enough over the years. I said once: with awareness, not by chance. It is time to make a change; it is time to create a new atmosphere. This is the Government’s responsibility.
This is also true with regard to the ultra-orthodox sector. So there is a disagreement as to how much of this the Government will pay and how much the municipality will pay, but I do not wish to go into this right now. Believe me, I tell you this from the bottom of my heart and not from political considerations. I say this out of a profound belief that we must enforce this equality. I was not willing to compromise on it, not with regard to Arabs, not with regard to the ultra-orthodox, not with regard to any pupil. However, it also relates to other fields.
Many time before, I have said to members of the Government, “Look, when there is a good municipality, let it conduct its own affairs, try to intervene as little as possible. We must reduce the power we use, not centralize it. The Government must be smaller so that it serves as a headquarters rather than a government that is constantly occupied with implementation. Let the mayors implement; they can do it better than we can.” No one else would have built such a tremendous system of roads in Jerusalem as we did, and Ronny can testify to this fact since he visited Jerusalem and he knows how hard it is to deal with the government regarding the building of the light train in Tel Aviv and the other roads.
We built a tremendous system, but we did so by exerting great force which overcame all the objections, and eventually the government mobilized to embark on this operation. We invested billions and billions of shekels in wider roads and longer roads and in a tunnel which we had never had and in amazing bridges which we never had and in junctions and the light train. Let me say here, Ronny, you have no choice: Jerusalem will have a light train, but I hope they finish it quickly, properly and well because this will lead to tremendous development. I hope you will begin; I hope you will succeed, but I say this to all the mayors, because these examples are ones I naturally am more familiar with from large cities. But I am also familiar with small cities. We tried to deal with the field of local authorities in a number of areas, but did not receive anything.
We need a water corporation because the Government cannot determine policy on an individual basis or a specific city, it just needs to demonstrate the appropriate flexibility so that things will be done where they are more needed and urgent without sacrificing other areas. We did this; in Jerusalem, we had perhaps the best water system, the most cared for and advanced in the country. We established the largest water corporation in Israel, the Gihon Company, and I know what it did to the city that all at once you find that the continual flow of over NIS 100 million to the municipality per month and it must be transferred to the company, but it can no longer be transferred through a municipal mechanism with all that it entails. So we did it gradually, but how do you start this process in a city where the rate of water savings is over 90%, in which the pipe system is looked after and sophisticated, in which residents receive the best possible service in this field? We started where the waste was tremendous, with the untreated pipes, where the system is not looked after properly, etc., and slowly, in the right fashion, gradually, wisely, in phases, the change was implemented. We had a serious argument, but I did not give up and did not think that a prime minister only needs to conduct relations with the geniuses, but a water corporation is important. That is how I tried to act.
This is a completely different point of view in terms of thought. It is not something obvious; a gentle push in the right direction must be provided; the rules of the game must be changed; one’s way of thinking must also shift. It is true, a government thinks it knows everything, but it does not. It cannot implement everything. It is also true that our bureaucratic system has become more complex and more complicated than ever before. It is a process, one that did not begin during the past three years. It may have, perhaps, eased slightly, but it began much earlier. This is not to say that there are cities whose bureaucratic system must be much more efficient and much simpler and much smaller and much reduced and much cheaper, thereby costing the city much less. This is the responsibility each of you bears, and I think Meir had the courage that no previous Minister of the Interior had to come to you and say that a city or authority which is not properly run – the authority must be changed, even if it involves laying off employees or appointing a council. People are brought in, and excellent people were brought in to a great number of authorities, and I see some of the managers here, whether it be Samir or Itzik or Ilan or anyone else who has experience, who are knowledgeable, who ran a city, who ran one better. This is not something that is obvious.
I believe we did a considerable amount in the field of the education system, and I believe that with the “New Horizon” project we will expand to all junior high schools and high schools. I know, this is not a topic about which a prime minister is used to speaking. A prime minister must speak about Bush, Obama, Hilary Clinton, Sarkozy and so on – we will leave this for another place. These are topics about which I felt no less passionate, and with all my heart I knew that these are topics which would eventually determine for each and every citizen in the State of Israel if he would live in the State of Israel with a feeling of quality, of his efforts receiving genuine recognition from the authority which taxes him, whether it burdened him or provided him with opportunities.
We invested billions in education, well over what was invested in the past, in order to ensure that all the cities could invest in the education system. We increased teachers’ salaries by more than any amounts provided in the past. We implemented the “Good Start” program. I admit my wife had to lead me to this program, but we accomplished great things.
We took care of matters relating to foreign workers, which at times became an especially intolerable burden, especially in cities, whether in Hedera or in Tel Aviv, and we tried to give an appropriate, balanced, responsible, but also humane solution to this problem. Nothing like this has been done before.
We started with children under the age of six. Never before in the State of Israel had children under the age of six been dealt with by the State with one exception – well-baby centers. I objected to the privatization of the well-baby centers; we had a fairly serious disagreement with the Tel Aviv Municipality about this matter. However, in the end I have no doubt that this decision to keep the well-baby centers as a State service was the right one. I very much hope that this focus on the well-baby centers will eventually become part of a broader framework of “Good Start”, which will provide holistic services to all children, will take care of children in distress, diagnose them, learn their weaknesses, be familiar with their family backgrounds, know what the wider context of their lives is, provide them with solutions so that they do not grow up to be young offenders by the age of 14. This is a tremendous achievement that will influence the quality of life here in Israel, and it will occur all across the country, in Sakhnin as well as in Tirat HaCarmel, and you know this. However, this is a process; it will take time. In three years, there will be 250 such centers. This will completely change the human infrastructure arriving in our schools; it will influence the education system; and with the new “New Horizon” program in high schools and junior high schools as well, the entire quality of life in the State of Israel will be completely different.
It is true that the Government currently faces a difficult financial crisis, and I must say this upfront in order to defend it. I think it would not be fair to develop unrealistic expectations. The entire world is facing a financial crisis. Gentlemen, General Motors and Ford and Chrysler, which were once symbols of tremendous strength that is unprecedented and unparalleled in any other place in the world, are on the brink of collapse. Did you know that the stock market value of General Motors, a company that employs nearly one million people, is lower than that of the Teva company? Does this seem normal to you? This happened there; it has not happened here yet. So understand that there is a crisis which is worldwide, and it will be felt in the State of Israel and will obligate us to reassess and change our list of priorities. I believe that the new government will have to face this problem with courage, wisdom and common sense, and it may be that it will have to cut back, and I will support it if it makes all these efforts, on the assumption that it does so in a manner which ensures that this cut or this reduction will eventually lead to growth and an increase.
Over the past four years, the Israeli economy grew 5.2%. It would have continued thus had it not been for this crisis. Even in 2008, the Israeli economy grew 4% - more than any other Western economy. It is true that 2008 will have lower growth. Whether it will be what the Governor of the Bank of Israel says now, perhaps less, maybe it will not be negative – I do not know. However, we are facing a difficult situation, and you must deal with some of the consequences of this situation, and I am certain you will do so because you are practical people, and you cannot wait for solutions to fall from the sky. Rather, you will have to provide these solutions at your own initiative and using your talents and your authorities and the strength and responsibility which must characterize all mayors – and we have all this in abundance.
Let me tell you something that serves as an answer to a question once asked by Arieh Bar, who is one of the most senior and excellent directors general in the civil service in the State of Israel. Every year, Raanan has a seminar for the managers in government offices. Nothing like this has ever happened before. Each office had previously acted alone. We did not have the ability to coordinate the offices and create government “headquarters”, make the system more efficient, determine measurable criteria so that we can see what we have accomplished and what we have not accomplished. When annual plans are prepared for the work to be conducted in an office, so that progress can be checked – these reforms were instigated by Raanan Dinur, who served less as a director general than a “super minister” in this Government, due to the unlimited trust I had in him from the first day. He gathered together all the heads of the offices every year and invited me to join them. The last time I was there, after I said what I said, I asked the directors general, “Would you like to ask me questions? Go ahead, I’m ready.” Everyone sat, and then Arieh Bar asked me a question, and he expressed the pain many of his citizens were feeling. He said, “How can people work when every year they leave their office, every year they change offices, every year a new minister comes.” They do not have time to get anything done. You heard Meir, and I believe him. He said that he began many things; they will either continue or not; things will either be good or not. How can one continue on when ministers change so regularly? Ask Arieh, how can there be a stable regime for four years?
I will give you a genuine answer; otherwise you will not believe me. Notice why the governments of the State of Israel fell during the past 15 years. In the end, they did not fall because of economic issues; they did not fall over matters related to the local authorities; they did not fall because of changes related to services provided to civilians; they fell because of things that are actually the public’s real agenda. They fell because of one thing – political matters. Go back and look. We lost the elections in 1992 not over economic issues, but rather political ones. The late Yitzhak Rabin was murdered over a political matter. Bibi won in 1996 on political issues. Barak lost in 1999 because of political matters. Arik Sharon won in 2001 over political matters. Arik Sharon called for elections in 2003 because of a political issue. In 2006 we had elections before the end of a government’s tenure again because of political issues. Why? Because we have not yet achieved our real heart’s desire and do that which we have no choice but to do – to make peace. Now, I am not saying that the responsibility falls only on us – not at all. As far as I know, the responsibility falls and always has fallen on the opposing side, but we were partners to this. These things must be said bluntly.
We must do all we can to achieve peace. It is not impossible; it is possible.
Always when one begins to speak of peace, people start to ask questions, raise details, get into all kinds of small niches or dark alleys and cannot extricate themselves. I tell you, first of all, one needs to make the decision, and then use inevitable force to ensure that this decision is binding even if it causes unprecedented disagreements – and there will be such a disagreement – because it is completely clear to me that any peace made will involve compromises never before made on our part, and maybe ones that were never even dreamt of. But there will be no choice but do so in order that the State of Israel will be able to live in its borders and the Palestinian state will live in theirs – where the Palestinians live in the Palestinian state and the Jews live in the State of Israel. I speak of the Palestinians, not the Arab residents of the State of Israel who are a part of the State of Israel. They are citizens of the State of Israel and they will remain citizens in the State of Israel forever, equal citizens. This decision must be made.
I very much hope that the next government will understand that there is no escaping making this decision. In the end, it is the responsibility of one man, who has it in his power to lead, to stop, to give that push that will sweep the entire public behind him. If he is weak, he can find endless reasons not to, and they exist. There is terror in the South – terrible, cruel, despicable, unacceptable and unjustified by any standards of international law. We are not occupying any piece of their land there. There is someone there who wants the destruction of Israel, and there is terror in Judea and Samaria as well. It is much less, more reduced, but there are people there who would like it to be greater.
We have an enemy in the North with whom we do not have a territorial disagreement, but who is preparing a weapons arsenal intended to harm citizens of the State of Israel. Not to go after military targets; not to fight against an army; not that war will be forced on them, but so that they can initiate a war in order to hurt the citizens in the North, as occurred in 2006. They always say that Israel started the war. Israel started the war? It was forced on us. We could have decided, we could have ignored, we could have avoided, we could put our heads in the sand like we did for many years; or we could have struck back at them with a decisive blow at he who understood that he had the right to harm, to kill, to murder, to shoot at Jews or at Arabs or at whoever was there and he would be exonerated. He will not be exonerated; he was not exonerated. It is no coincidence that quiet has prevailed over the past two and a half years, even during the difficult days of the war in the South – someone got the message. And there were several more messages along the way – we will not speak of them.
The person who will have the courage to decide to make peace, gentlemen, will be prime minister for four years and then will be elected for another four years; and the government will last and the ministers will stay and everything will be alright. If we resolve this problem, we will be able to overcome all the rest; if we do not resolve this problem in the next year or two, there will be a big mess. How, why, when – something will happen here, something will happen there, this one will get nervous, that one will make demands, then he will object, the government will fall apart, the coalition will disappear, the prime minister will go to the president, there will be elections and so on. This is our greatest mission, but it will take up the government’s time. I hope the government will make time for your issues as well.
In conclusion, I wish to thank you. I genuinely love you all. I know you work hard, maybe even harder than we do. I would get home at midnight half-dead, barely able to move, and would said to myself, “Wait, Eli Esquozido looked for me? How can I not call him back? And Shmulik Riffman called. What, I won’t call him back? And Eyal Betzer called, what, I won’t call him back?” And Benny Ben Muvhar, I would hear him shouting from the Hermon, what I wouldn’t call him back? And Ron Huldai: even if he spoke quietly I heard him in Jerusalem. I would call them and feel that they were in the middle of their days. For me it was already midnight, but for them it was the middle of the day – everything was still buzzing, there was still action, they were still working and moving, because that is the job of a mayor. There is no difference between day and night, there is no vacation and there is no rest. There is always someone whose sidewalk is broken, there is a tree that was uprooted, there is a cat in the wrong place, there are rats because of some problem with the sewer all of a sudden and one gathers one peace of mind and it is shattered and something must be done and rat-trappers must be sent quickly, and here there is a fire, and here someone fell from the balcony that is broken, and the mayor, of course, is at fault. He cannot say, “Now I am going to sleep.” He must provide an answer tonight. And the restaurant is noisy, and here there is a loud party and the police are called and the police call the mayor and the mayor has to deal with this as well. There is nothing the mayor does not deal with. He deals with education, he deals with construction, he deals with planning, he deals with paving roads, he deals with welfare, he deals with culture, he deals with international relations, he deals with economic development. What every person in the government deals with separately, the mayor does all at once and, at times, much better.
So, in fact I am taking advantage of this opportunity granted me by inviting me here to say to you, thank you, to appreciate all you do, to hope that the conditions will be better so that you can continue succeeding, and to remind you that, in the end, the true responsibility that will determine how our citizens live is in your hands. I believe we have a very impressive gathering of people here who know, who understand and who can. Thank you very much.