Ravitz's Quiet Revolution: Needed: Ministry of Home Front Security

The public debate following the Second Lebanon war does not stop. The discussion is undertaken by various commissions, in governmental, military and civilian frameworks, within groups and individually. It has become the most significant public discourse, starting with politicians and reaching idlers and market peddlers. Usually, the various reactions can be identified in advance according to socio-economic groups, while everyone waits for the final Winograd report.

Even so, I still dare use a general expression that characterizes almost all conclusions, and in my opinion, will also be the fate of the Winograd report, that is "hindsight vision is always 20/20". Therefore, it will not influence nor change the political and coalition-based situation in the government.

Even Knesset members Eitan Cabel and Ofir Paz-Pines will not have an impact. Both, even together, have marginal influence on their party. If MK Paz-Pines would submit his candidacy for the prime minister’s post, it would sound more like a cat’s meow than a lion’s roar...especially as the military has already begun to improve its abilities and level of readiness.

The single most important thing, on one hand, and most neglected on the other, is the Home Front Command.

During the war, the command was caught with its pants down and turned out to be a total failure. It can be said that, with the exception of issuing commands, it simply did not exist! And when there were military operations, they did not correspond nor conform to the reality on the ground!

Even after the war, there is still no Home Front policy or cooperation between the various governmental bodies, and the confusion is great. There is no responsibility or accountability, no proposed budget and it can be said, "In those days, there was no King in Israel" (Book of Judges).

My suggestion, therefore, is the establishment of a new ministry: The Ministry of Home Front Security. At the head will sit a minister who will occupy a permanent post, with the right authority and an organized budget. The scattered budgets of the various ministries such as the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Social Services, the Prime Minister's Office and so on, will all be concentrated at the Ministry of Home Front Security, as will the budgets of the various voluntary organizations.

The minister in charge will prepare an organized budgetary plan that will be included in the annual budget proposal, as accustomed in all other ministries. The ministry's budgetary plan will be publicly reviewed by the Knesset's Finance Committee, and a public debate will take place to set priorities. Everyone will have the budgetary information for review: the government, the Knesset and Israeli citizens.

The Ministry of Home Front Security will be run similarly to an organized, normal country. The court will also be aware that the Knesset authorized the budget and the petitions submitted by delusional proponents will cease. In this matter, we will live according to what the budget permits.

To complete my suggestion, I also propose that the minister assigned to this position be MK Ami Ayalon (Labor), for the following reasons:

1) His top-notch military and intelligence background.

2) His familiarity and activity in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, where he served as chairman of a sub-committee in charge of inspecting Home Front readiness and prepared an impressive report

3) From a political point of view, it seems to me that [Labor party leader] Mr. Ehud Barak would be more than happy to assign him to this position, in part because of the internal political dynamics of the Labor party.