BICOM

Over the course of the Israeli election campaign, BICOM is interviewing candidates from across the spectrum. On Wednsday 25 February 2015, BICOM’s Director in Israel Richard Pater spoke with Rachel Azaria, a candidate on the new Kulanu party’s list. Azaria is currently Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem and is widely credited for initiating free education for preschool children from the age of three, which was then later adopted by the government and implemented nationally. A podcast of the interview is available here.

For the uninitiated, could you outline the major issues on the agenda of the Kulanu party?

The Kulanu party is a party that brings the social and economic issues to the political arena. In Israel, for many years, we have been discussing right-wing, left-wing, mainly talking about security issues –we bring the social issues.

What we realised is that there are two major issues that we need to deal with. One is to minimize the gap between the different groups in Israeli society, the economic gap, and the second is that Israel has many monopolies that make life in Israel very expensive and we want to deal with the Israeli monopolies.

Whether we like it or not, the two major parties are leading the campaign at the moment: the Likud on the right and the Zionist Union on the left. Both are fighting for who will be the prime minister, and therefore, who will form the government. What’s the focus of your campaign? Where do you feel you can pick up the votes?

We’re talking about the issues that concern 80 per cent of Israeli families. 80 per cent of Israeli families can’t really handle the economic situation. Their income isn’t enough for their daily expenses, and that is something that we deal with in Israel very strongly. Many people that have to take loans to handle the expense of life in Israel, and those are the issues that we are discussing. We feel that it is very easy for Israeli politics to go to national security or peace issues – those are issues where it is so much harder to bring change, because you are not the only one responsible for them. You have another side – the Palestinians, the Iranians, and the UN. Therefore, it’s so much easier – if you’re not successful, you can always blame someone else.

With the economic issues, it is only the responsibility of the Israeli government, and that’s why we say, ‘Attack the economical issues, these are the most important issues.’ These are the issues that are challenging 80 per cent of the families in Israel and we know that we will be successful and we will bring change.

Israel has the largest gaps in any of the OECD countries, between the highest and the poorest echelons in society. What are the concrete, substantial policy initiatives that you hope to reduce those gaps?

First of all, the way the government divides the budgets to the different cities in Israel: in every city or municipality it’s not that if you need more, you get more, it’s if you have more, you get more, which is called the matching system.

It means that in every city, if you want to get money from the government, in most of the projects, you need to prove that you have enough of your own budget for the project. The problem is that most of the weaker municipalities don’t have the budget, and therefore they don’t even get the support from the government. That is something that is unjust. Maybe when they started this programme, the municipalities had more money, and therefore it made sense. But today, it just means that many municipalities are giving up the budgets from the government because the municipalities don’t have the money for these issues. It means that your life, in many ways, the education that your children will get, the chances that they will have, the possibilities that they will have for the future is decided more than anything by where they are born around the country, and that is something that we can’t agree with and that is one thing that we want to change.

The other issues are the way to open businesses – it’s very hard to open small businesses. There is a lot of legislation to get the permits and also the possibility of getting a loan from the bank, to get credits from the bank, is very, very hard.

Those are issues that we want to change. One of the most important parts of the economy, one of the most important game changers in the economy are the small and medium sized businesses and, in Israel, it is very hard to hold small businesses. If we change that, and make it possible for people to open their own businesses, that can minimize the gaps in Israeli society.

Many people in the centre may be deliberating between Kulanu and Yesh Atid. Where do you see are the main differences between the two parties?

I think they are opposite parties in many ways. Yesh Atid is a party of people that were stars before – the head of the party [Yair Lapid] was a TV star. He didn’t have and he doesn’t have any political knowledge, he didn’t have political experience, and he came into the government with a lot of promises and not knowing how to make a difference. The other issue is that Lapid comes from a very comfortable background and everyone in the party – all the leaders – come from very comfortable backgrounds and I don’t think they realise that 80 per cent of the people in the country have a hard time economically.

Kulanu is a party of people that have proven that they know how to handle political situations. Moshe Kahlon has been a minister, he has run committees in the Knesset and he knows how to do politics – he’ll be able not only to promise, but to really make a difference. Also, the people on the list are people who know how to work politically. I have been working for seven years politically in the municipality, and I’ve done it from the coalition, from the opposition. I know how to make a difference. I know how to make things happen. I know it’s hard, and I’m willing to pay prices. And, also the rest of the people on the list are people that have proven that they know how to make a change.

The other issue about Yesh Atid: frankly, it’s very hard for me to understand why people are even debating about it. They took a risk and gave their vote to someone who didn’t have any experience and didn’t know how to do politics. He’s proven that he doesn’t know how to do politics, and now he comes back for their votes again. It’s hard for me to think of any company from around the world that would pick someone from TV and say, ‘Come run the company,’ because he would promise that he would make the company so much more successful. It’s very hard for me to think of any company that two years later would give him another opportunity, after everything he’s done. He’s brought the economy to a much more complicated place. In the past year and eight months, the price of housing has increased by 16 per cent. Those are horrendous numbers – especially when we know that housing was one of the major issues that Yair Lapid has promised to take care of.

I think it is very clear that the only party that can really make a difference in the Israeli economy is Kulanu. We also say, ‘Give us your votes; we’re going to work on it. If we’re not successful, we’re not going to come back and ask you for your votes again. We’re going to take responsibility, and we’re going to make sure that we are going to make Israel into a much better country. It will take a while, it will take hard work. We’re going to have to be very brave, we’re going to have to take responsibility, but we know that we can do it.’

As well as yourself and Moshe Kahlon, you also have two senior security and diplomatic heavyweights from the top of your list – the former Southern Commander, Major General Yoav Galant, and the former Ambassador to the US Michael Oren. Despite your focus on socio-economic issues, as a party with a national list, I presume you have positions on the diplomatic issues of the day. In regard to the Palestinians, where do you see yourselves? What is your perspective and your agenda?

We realise that, regarding the Palestinians, we are not discussing any major solution these days. That’s the situation – for the past 20 years we have been on and off, negotiating without any real outcome. Therefore, we say we need to strengthen the relationship and strengthen the Palestinians’ economic situation, and we believe that that has to be done today. Israel is in the Middle East, and it is very hard to just sign a paper and turn it into reality. Just doing – making a difference on the ground – is what would really make a difference at the end. That is what we believe has to be done with the relationship with the Palestinians.

Once there will be some kind of a solution that is serious, there are a few issues that are important to us. First of all, the declaration that Israel is a Jewish state. Secondly, that Jerusalem stay united. The third issue is that the refugees from 1948 do not come back to the State of Israel. The last issue is that we believe that the settlement blocs stay remain part of Israel. These are the ground rules that most Israelis agree with, and we believe will help us decide upon any solution that will be brought up in the future.

So far, your leader, Moshe Kahlon, has refused to meet with either Prime Minister Netanyahu, or leader of the Zionist Union, Isaac Herzog. Commentators in the polls are predicting your party great success, even as potential kingmakers in the next government. From discussions inside the party, where is your preference on who to form a government with?

Our preference is very clear. Whichever government that will give us the possibility to do exactly what we promised and that we keep promising to do – to make the Israeli economy better, to make sure that people’s everyday lives are easier and to handle the monopolies of the banking in Israel.

People pay 3,000 shekels a year more than what they are supposed to be paying because of the banking system. The price of housing has gone up 75 per cent over the past two years, over the past three terms the prices of groceries in Israel are higher than anywhere else in the OECD. These are very difficult numbers. These are issues that we have to take care of.

Whoever will be brave enough, whoever will give us the possibility to work on these issues and handle them, and gives us a free hand to do the work that has to be done for the Israeli economy – that is where we will be. That is our commitment to our voters, our commitment to the eight million people that live in Israel – that is what we will be doing.

There is also a lot of speculation at the moment that a national unity government will be formed. Perhaps one could argue that this would weaken your own negotiating position. How do you see the politics playing out after March the 17th?

I think that is something that we will leave to the people of the State of Israel to decide. Whatever people vote is what we’ll have – that will make the decision about the next stage in Israeli politics, and I don’t like guessing future politics.

I have learned that everything is always surprising. The only thing I don’t need to guess is our commitment in Kulanu to the economic affairs and the economic agenda and I know that we will work day and night to make sure that the Israeli economy is healthier and better, to make sure that people can enjoy the wealth that our country has.