Clear and Present Danger
Dov Moran: "The most terrible damage of all of this is the loss of democracy"
"The processes we are seeing today in Israeli politics are most likely the ones that will be marked as the dawn of the destruction of the temple. A corrupt, nationalist-racist government, devoid of administrative talent, motivated by considerations that are not in the best interest of the country, will result in many good men and women leaving. Then the situation will deteriorate even further, more will leave and so on and so forth. This may be the end of Zionism.
"My friends and I have the feeling that the bus has begun its downward spiral, and I don't know how to stop it. You can still jump off, but we don't jump. We don't have another country. But young, smart Israelis definitely have other places to go. They can jump off the bus and spare themselves the madness and heartache involved in watching the crash up close. Already today I see youngsters saying, 'Maybe we'll set up a branch of the company in California, because I want to go there.' We made tremendous efforts to return doctoral students and postdoctoral students to Israel after their research, it was not easy and now it will be near impossible. Anyone who does not return is a loss to Israel. These are the people who generate income for the country and provide it with the image and aura it enjoys, and enable everyone, even non-producers, to live a good life. These people see nationalism, racism and unprofessionalism and the unthinkable political appointments, and it's getting harder and harder to keep them here. Start-up Nation - as if.
"Jews came to Israel from all over the world. Even if it didn't do things perfectly, there was an attempt to create integration here. A unity of people, despite their differences. Now, the feeling is that a player has arrived who has decided that it is worth the conflict, to return to the politics of tribes that hate each other, to racial separation between Sephardim and Ashkenazim, religious and secular, Jews and Arabs. How did we get to the point where lying, cheating, bribing and circumventing the law is allowed? Where is harassing elected officials and threatening the courts okay? How did we get to the point where everything is allowed as long as you win?
"The most terrible damage of all of this is the loss of democracy. Giving one party the ability to rule, without being able to stop it. I greatly appreciate Benjamin Netanyahu's wisdom, but I despise the person he has become, just as I despise all his active supporters and servants (in contrast, I do not despise the voters of Likud or any other party, even if I do not agree with their opinion). History, and Bibi as the son of a historian knows, is written by the winners - and that is how it works. But what happens when everyone loses? The way things are going today, we will all lose.
"I will not jump off the deteriorating bus because my grandfather and my father, the real libertarians as opposed to today's fake ones, taught me to hold on tight. Not to let go. And that part of being an entrepreneur is to be hopelessly optimistic and to believe that somehow good will prevail, even if right now it is not clear to me how and when."
Dov Moran is an entrepreneur and high-tech investor
