From my new column in Moment:
… Why does Israel Bonds still exist in 2011? To broaden the question, do other classic Israeli fund-raising institutions serve a legitimate purpose anymore, at least in their present forms?
Don’t get me wrong. Giving isn’t obsolete. It’s great that Jews like to give. “Checkbook Judaism” is a problem when writing checks is the only expression of someone’s Jewish identity, but not when it’s part of a diversified portfolio of living by Jewish values. Overseas gifts to Israel’s nonprofit sector – from soup kitchens to symphony orchestras, human rights groups to universities – are a blessing for Israel and a bridge between it and the Diaspora. But some of the most prominent institutions channeling funds from world Jewry to Israel are past their expiration date.
Technically, buying bonds isn’t a gift at all; it’s an investment. But back in 1951, when Israel created the Bonds apparatus, the new state was flooded with Jewish refugees, not with eager investors. By buying bonds, Diaspora Jews were providing a very poor country with desperately needed foreign currency. The gift consisted of accepting relatively low interest on a high-risk investment.
That’s history. As Yossi Beilin, who did a stint as minister of economics and planning, has pointed out, by the 1970s Israel was able to get bank loans at reasonable rates. Meanwhile, the philanthropic appeal of Israel bonds dropped, and the interest they paid rose. Knesset Member Meir Sheetrit of the opposition Kadima party notes that Israel bonds are now highly attractive – and institutional investors are the main buyers. Today, Israel has a high credit rating, large foreign currency reserves and flourishing exports. The government can borrow at lower rates commercially, without spending millions of dollars on the Bonds apparatus for salaries and bringing Israeli politicians to speak to investors.
But some politicians like those trips -not just for the pampering, but probably also for the opportunity to hobnob with high rollers whom they can later tap for campaign donations. In the wake of Bibi-Tours, Sheetrit promised to reintroduce a bill to dismantle Israel Bonds, but hawking that plan to his colleagues could be tough.
If the philanthropic appeal of Israel Bonds became obsolete in the 1970s, the Jewish National Fund arguably became an anachronism on May 14, 1948. …
Read the full column here, and return to South Jerusalem to comment.
The over-hyped “Two State Solution” to the Arab-Israeli conflict, which promises “peace for our time” (remember Neville Chaimberlain?) and endorsed by almost the entire world, is wrong, undoable and a recipe for certain disaster. If Israel were forced to give up the strategic Samarian Highlands, in the northern West Bank, she’d be signing her own death warrant.
Read all about it here:
http://shomroncentral.blogspot.com/