Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Elon Musk. (Photo: Avi Ohayon/GPO)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is planning to appoint an “Israeli Elon Musk” in order to cut regulation, Israel’s Kan News reported on Monday evening. The prime minister intends to announce the appointment within three weeks.
In a conversation with ministers, Netanyahu said there are three main elements that interfere with the work of the government and with activity in the economy. According to him, these are the legal advisory system, the budget department officials in the Ministry of Finance, and the planning institutions, along with the Israel Land Authority (ILA).
The prime minister intends to appoint his associate, Yossi Shelley (currently Israel’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates), as ILA chairman.
Netanyahu said: “We need to dismantle this regulation. In advanced Arab countries like the Emirates, they are not elected, and they hand down their directives top-down. Here, we are elected and everything goes down-down.”
The head of the Strategy Division at the Histadrut Labor Federation, Itamar Avitan, responded: “Of all of Trump’s failures – there is no need to import to Israel the worst of them. Elon Musk resigned in disgrace after the efficiency authority he headed caused unprecedented damage to the United States and to American society.”
“Netanyahu has promised for years to deal with Israeli bureaucracy, but in practice he only dries up, weakens, and destroys the public service in favor of a messianic vision and sectoral interests,” Avitan said, adding: “The only reason he has ‘remembered’ to deal with the public service is because he sees the devoted and loyal public servants of Israel’s citizens as an obstacle to turning Israel into a dictatorship.”
Billionaire Elon Musk was appointed chairman of the U.S. Government Efficiency Department when President Donald Trump entered the White House in January.
Musk led a series of budget cuts in various government institutions but left the position on bad terms due to disagreements with senior administration officials, including Trump himself.
