The two greatest crises of our time, the coronavirus and the current war, make it clear that from a civilian point of view, it is the community that can win the battle. While everyone talks about "the state," the community is the center of our daily lives, especially in times of crisis.
On October 7, we saw the safe room concept collapse. It turns out that a person's home is not his fortress. With torn eyes, we saw how, under foot attack, the safe room turned into a death trap. The communities that defended themselves spatially and publicly are the ones who saved their friends. Precisely at a time of crises that require public solutions, the Israeli public faces a broken trough, and the infrastructure at the community level does not provide an appropriate response.
Most of the local authorities in the border areas are light years away from the localities in the center of the country in the areas of education, welfare and social services. One of the main gaps has to do with the ability to plan in a data-driven manner. The Start-Up Nation exists only in corporations and companies.
On a tour of a city in the south, not very far from Gaza, I was happy to see a city war room built for Talpiot. Enthusiastic, I asked to be shown the working protocol. They admitted to me that there was nothing. No data. No software. The city has grown significantly within the development of housing per occupant, but there is no technological infrastructure for population management. Local authorities are not paid to employ data experts or programmers. The growing public continues to be managed with the tools of the last century.
Emergency time is the MRI of the state and society; It reflects to us the functioning of the internal organs. The results of the examination show that economic growth at the macro level has created a rich country here, but that the Israeli public is in severe distress: the physical, economic, and social infrastructures – the systems of connections that transform us from society to public – are in a huge crisis.
These words are written not out of a desire to attack the state, but in order to improve our lives here. We have the results of the MRI scan. We must look at it without fear and act as soon as possible, even assuming that the state of emergency in which we find ourselves will continue for a long time.
Therefore, at this time, we must take five steps: First, to demand and receive authority and resources for the communities. The decentralization of power to local authorities is a process started by the previous government, and it has stopped. Huge budgets and authority should be transferred to localities and local councils, and entrusted with the management of events.
Second, the mayors must manage the eviction policy, knowing the physical and social infrastructure of the community, the degree of resilience and the state of the population in terms of welfare.
Third, the state must invest public funds in huge Pinui-Binui projects in Israel's slums. The sum stated in the State Comptroller's reports is NIS 5 billion, whose purpose is to protect 846,40 residents who live within <> kilometers of the fence in the north and south. Protection against earthquakes and missiles and the reconstruction of neighborhoods must converge into one event.
The Israeli public is in dire straits: the physical, economic, and social infrastructures – the systems of connections that transform us from a society to a public – are in a huge fracture
Fourth, the state must return to investing in community infrastructure. Community social workers must return to neighborhoods. The elderly and children must be placed at the center of the agenda, and solutions must be provided to them even in times of emergency. Home committees and neighborhood committees must be nurtured in order to create centers of mutual assistance and solve the basic problems of all of us.
Finally, management, computerization and technology infrastructures in Israeli cities must be strengthened in order to build a knowledge infrastructure for population management during emergencies.
In relation to the military campaign, the phrase "let the IDF win" is common. But in order for the Israeli public to survive this period, let the mayors win.
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