A government that interferes in everything is a disorganized government, and disorganization provides great opportunities for corruption.

In seven years, the Herzliya Conference has expanded so widely that its focus is becoming blurred, its messages buried under an avalanche of sessions and speakers – not all useful.

The reservists’ protest against the Lebanon fiasco could contribute to a politically, economically and socially healthier Israel. If that happens Lebanon II will be remembered as our “second war of independence”, a true war of liberation from a corrupting system which threatens our future existence.

In Israel, the notion that government is the citizens’ benevolent parent is deeply rooted. It was therefore remarkable to read recently in Makor Rishon an essay written by one Yaakov Schatz: “It Is For Our Sins That We Were Exiled From Our Land.” Schatz not only claims that “Halacha [Jewish Law] prefers a state with a small bureaucracy that intervenes only minimally in the citizen’s life,” but supports this claim with many halachic references. He accuses the religious camp of ignoring halacha by advocating a strong state.

The Peres-Herzog plan does not propose freeing the economy, so that enterprises could flourish and entice more workers into the labor force; or the reduction of taxes so that more workers will find it beneficial to work. Instead it proposes a series of massive and costly grab-bag of government programs that will involve large wasteful bureaucracies, increased inefficiencies and arrested economic growth.