On video: the swearing-in of the 25th Knesset (Photo: Knesset Channel)
If nothing dramatic happens during the few weeks that remain until the end of the year, in January the senior members of the public system in Israel: judges, ministers, elected officials and a long list of former positions in the public sector, will receive a new salary, and among us - a little absurd.
The highest salary will of course be the president of the Supreme Court, but the president will also receive an upgrade in his salary, so will the prime minister, ministers, MKs and more.
Here are some numbers: President Yitzhak Herzog will receive about 74 thousand shekels per month instead of 64 thousand; that the Supreme Esther Hayut will be upgraded from approximately NIS 104,000 per month to almost 120,000;
Ministers (including the chairman of the opposition) will receive 58 thousand shekels per month instead of about 50 thousand today and MKs will earn 52 thousand instead of about 45 thousand today.
This is not a decision that has just been taken by the legislators, but an automatic mechanism according to which the salary will be updated, unless someone comes to their senses earlier and in a flash prevents the humiliation.
So much for the facts, now for the interpretation.
It is easy to worry about the salaries of MKs and elected officials, but it is amazing to see every time how long the trail that follows them and is covered under the definition of "elected public officials": the big money is not found in the Israeli Knesset, which is anyway limited to 120 members and a not very high number of office holders The big money is in the local authorities, the judicial system and other public systems with eighty thousand wage earners.
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Israel's Knesset (Photo: Reuven Castro)
So why do we take care of MKs? Because they are at least transparent. We know exactly how much time they invest in parliamentary work, how short the Knesset sessions are, how long the breaks are, how easy it is to be absent even from the few working days that are actually supposed to take place, how easily the Knesset is dispersed and more Among all those who earn a high salary at our expense, they are the finger in the public's eye.
What's more: a large part of the salary in quite a few of the above positions is only incidental to budgetary pensions from other sources and income from other businesses. This, without saying a word about the lie known as "contact with the voter ", within which every MK can take advantage of a lot more public money to keep in touch with us.
Beyond the direct cost of the move, there is a rare, almost heart-warming public phenomenon: suddenly there is no left and right, no racists and supporters of terrorism, no crazy-progressives or homophobes, no detractors of Israel and religious fanatics.
No one under our branch and under his fig tree, will carry a torch to Netanyahu a sword and Ben Gvir with Tibi Yarbatz, all united by the one true desire that pulsates in every politician wherever he is: to live well at the expense of the public purse.
How many times have we dreamed of seeing the Knesset of Israel undivided, united, joining hands and sheltering in the shadow of honest emotion, which in other places is called greed or greed.
The highest salary.
President of the Supreme Court (Photo: Flash 90, Avshalom Sassooni)
And you say, wait, wait - doesn't the prime minister deserve to earn 65 thousand shekels per month?
So between us - there is no amount that will be compensation for what a prime minister, every prime minister, goes through - and it is certainly possible that the salary of the President of the Supreme Court should be more than one million shekels per year.
I'm not even arguing about the numbers, but about the fact that they are updated and "rounded" up by considerable percentages, while most of us are kneeling under the cost of living.
How much has your salary been upgraded recently?
How many extra hours did you have to work to make it through the month?
Has anyone told you about some hidden compensation mechanism that will be updated once in a while in proportion to the average salary in the State of Israel?
And the naive said, on the assumption that there is one more such person left who is not standing with wide eyes and clenched fists in front of the house where his elected officials are supposed to work: What do you want from them, after all, this is not a decision taken now, when the outgoing government is already with a foot and a half out and the new government has not yet been sworn in.
So after I slap him, so that he gets out of the shock a little, I will remind him that when it comes to an issue that is close to their hearts, the honorable MKs know how to collect signatures, convene non-quorum meetings and even pass laws even when the Knesset is in recess.
Net show.
Ballot boxes in the last elections (Photo: Reuven Castro)
Did anyone hear a tweet from among the residents of the house?
A demand from his friends to come to their senses and not mock their constituents?
Has anyone heard of a person with a budget pension, let's say sub-champions, champions, and rabbi-champions in the res. such as Miri Regev, Yoav Galant, Orna Barbiei and Benny Gantz (a very partial list), who acknowledge that this salary is doubled (MKs' and ministers' salary together with a budget pension), With these crazy sums, is it a joke in their eyes too? That one of the proceeds will be donated to some fund for the public, for the benefit of some non-profit organization? Shhh... hush hush, they are making their home, we are the ones who should be grateful for their beautiful years in uniform and civil service as elected officials. What , not like this?
I wish we would learn something from this, that we would understand the next time we are called to the polls, that this is a circus, a show, a nastiness that takes place to inflame division and hatred among us, to keep us so committed to the struggles that tear Israeli society apart from the inside - while those who are supposed to represent this conflict, as they were Until a few weeks ago, a sign was now hanging over the Knesset saying: Quiet, thieves.
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